The teardrop design is both beautiful and ergonomic.

Review: Logitech Touch Mouse T620

The teardrop design is both beautiful and ergonomic.
The teardrop design is both beautiful and ergonomic.

I was provided a review sample of the Logitech Touch Mouse T620. This is the second of three peripherals launched by Logitech targeted squarely at the touch friendly Windows 8 operating system. The T650 touch pad was reviewed a month ago and is a solid device. The downside was that you had to be comfortable with a touch pad in the first place. Most desktop users are not familiar with that, this is where the Touch Mouse T620 comes in. The T620 is a hybrid. It’s a mouse with an embedded touch pad.

 

 

Hardware

The T620 is an ambidextrous lightweight beauty. My family has never looked a peripheral and gone ‘wow that looks nice’. This is kind of a feat considering I do own Apple’s design-centric products as well. The T620 got admiring glances from the household and with good reason – It looks great. I was sent the white version and the color, shape and texture of the device was just right.

 

The T620 is an ambidextrous lightweight beauty.

 

 

Do note that the mouse is kind of small. I have small hands and the mouse felt a little tinier than what my hands would have preferred. There are two general ways of holding the mouse. One where you put your entire palm on the mouse and move it with your entire arm. The other way is to hold it with the tips of your fingers and most movements are made by flicking your wrist. This is my preferred method of holding the mouse and this what the T620 is built for.

The T620 feels more like a mouse meant for mobile use (like on laptops or Windows 8 tablets since iOS and Android tablets do not support USB transceivers). It is pretty clear that this was the direction that Logitech was taking for the T620. It includes a well crafted drawstring bag to carry your mouse in for mobile use. You can use the soft linen bag to clean the mouse as well since the top of the mouse functions as a mini touch pad.

The underside of the T620 and the little bag it comes with.
The underside of the T620 and the little bag it comes with.

There is little to complain about the hardware side of the mouse. It is comfortable to hold, looks great and feels great between my fingers. The only downside stems from the mouse having a larger than normal clickable area. About half the mouse is raised and clickable. This is great but it causes the mouse to feel less rigid. What Logitech could have done was to make the clickable area a little stiffer as  it feels too loose at the moment. Besides that, the mouse is yet another great looking piece of hardware from the dominant peripheral maker.

 

 

Software

The T620’s software centers on the touch functions on the mouse. You can still do your left, right and double clicks naturally. The rest of the functions are controlled by the software. Logitech has put in every function possible into the T620. Everything you can do with the T650 can be done here. Feature packed is the correct term to use for the T620.

Here is a feature rundown:

  • You can scroll vertically and horizontally by just moving a single finger in the direction you wish to scroll to.
  • Middle clicking is done by clicking with two fingers at the lower two thirds of the mouse.**
  • Back and forward actions in say, a browser, is done by swiping two fingers left and right.
  • The Start Screen can be activated by double tapping anywhere/lower two thirds of the mouse with 1/2 fingers.*
  • The Desktop can be accessed by double tapping anywhere/lower two thirds of the mouse with 1/2 fingers.*
  • The charms bar can be activated with a swipe in off the right edge of the mouse.**
  • App switching can be done by swiping in from the left edge of the mouse.*

* These actions can be customized based on your preferences.

** You can choose to turn these features on or off.

Logitech's Setpoint software allows a certain degree of customization.
Logitech’s Setpoint software allows a certain degree of customization.

The feature set is impressive. In fact, every function you can find on a Windows 8 peripheral are all found on the T620. However, there is one niggle that is easily noticeable. Because of the touch pad surface, the mouse is extremely sensitive to the movements of your fingers. Let’s say you are resting your fingers your the mouse and you happen to roll left, the mouse will read it as a scroll left gesture.

Also, the mouse works best when you use only the correct number of fingers for the job. Let’s say, you want to right click. For the right click to be read flawlessly you need to raise your left click finger up so that the click is read purely as a single click on the right side of the mouse. If you have two fingers touching it and then you do a right click, the software does read it as a middle click at times (depending on your configuration).

This means that there is a significant amount of getting used to when using this touch based mouse. Besides that, the T620 performs well and seems to offer everything the T650 does in the familiar form of a mouse.

 

 

Best Of Two Worlds?

Logitech went for balance on this hybrid. The T650 represented a huge leap for desktop users. It was made specifically to be a touch pad and it was an excellent performer. The T620’s hybrid approach feels a little confused. It is a mouse but you cannot use it the way you would use a traditional one. It takes some time to get used to utilizing gestures on a mouse. But after that learning curve is over, the mouse performs to near perfection.

 

You cannot use it the way you would use a traditional mouse. It takes some time to get used to utilizing gestures on a mouse.

 

As any responsible reviewer will tell you, your use of a mouse is personal and how quick you adapt to change is subjective. Some will take to this mouse like a duck to water and some will have trouble getting used to this hybrid. Nevertheless, it is clear that Logitech is attempting to capture every inch of the market by releasing the T650, T620 and the more traditional T400.

The T650 touch pad is a giant step up while the T620 represents a gentler progression. At a recommended retail price of S$89, the T620 comes in at S$20 cheaper than the T650. This is a good device to start with if you want to get into the whole gesture touch based method of using Windows 8 without needing a touch screen PC.