I was watching this video the other day and our friend Bob made a comment about the steamdecks trackpads, essentially calling the bad. I want to know what the community thinks.
For me, they are a game changer. They are not the best implemented trackpads I’ve ever seen but on a handheld it made a world of difference setting up any desktop software like emudeck, and any of the associated emulators. Civ games in my opinion are easier to navigate and I would be hard pressed to try to play any type of RTS game without them. Not to mention that after a year of having the Deck, I just learned how to comfortably type with them. I’ve bound them to be a radial dial of tools within games and with the desktop mode.
This morning I heard of the Aya Neo Kun, a 75 watt hour x86 handheld with trackpads. Outside the GDP WIN 4 with it’s physical keyboard this is the only other x86 handheld I think I could consider using. I believe its physical trackpads would help me navigate the nightmare that is windows 11. I will always prefer a mouse and keyboard but on the go, they’ve been a handy tool to getting things done.
Love em, hate em, or just don’t care about em, I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts.
I don’t have a deck yet, but I do have a steam controller… which has track-paddish elements. I can’t speak to the quality or ergonomics of the pads on the deck, but the steam controller’s pads are game-changing in terms of being able to interact with mouse-driven games with poor controller support. Part of why my eye is on the deck is to have a system with that kind of support.
Recently got a TV put up and I tried playing escape simulator with an Xbox controller. It was the first time I really wished I owned a steam controller. The maps have a lot of different things and ways to interact with them. I find pads make it easier to rotate objects.