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This is almost a good design, but there's a potentially dangerous flaw. Although it's not obvious in the picture, the dials have skeuomorphic fake machining mar
by mrob 9y ago
This is almost a good design, but there's a potentially dangerous flaw. Although it's not obvious in the picture, the dials have skeuomorphic fake machining marks. These marks can make reflected light look like lines radiating from the center. And the indicator mark is only a shallow depression, which is low contrast under some lighting conditions. The reflections on the fake machining marks can camouflage the indicator mark and make it hard to see. If you mostly use the microwave on full power, that's what you'll expect to see, so it's easy to miss it if the power setting is actually lower. This could result in food being heated less than you expect. It might be warmed instead of cooked, resulting in fast bacteria growth.
This can easily be fixed by coloring the indicator mark with a black permanent marker.
- nnq 9y agooh c'mon... there's an LCD/OLED display showing the time clearly. This is so much better than ANY alternative that any critique is nitpicking. (Though, to be honest, I have a very old white with black marks microwave that avoids the problems you mention... but it also had an ugly design that doesn't fit most modern kitchens :P) Translated to web, you're basically saying "all websites should use a high contrast serif font at >16pt. to avoid people committing dangerous mistakes when reading instructions online" :)
- mrob 9y agoThe display shows only the time. The power setting is shown by the indentation on the lower dial. This can be hard to see under some lighting conditions, specifically because it's designed to trick people into thinking it's made of metal. The analogy is more like web pages using scanned images of hand writing, which I'd also say is bad design.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- watt 9y agoFWIW here's a perfect microwave. I bought it around year 2000 I think. https://imgur.com/JMaM70x https://imgur.com/JMaM70x
- mrob 9y agoAgreed. The newer Samsung is an inferior cost-reduced version of this design. The old version is better because the time can be set purely by muscle memory. The new version uses a rotary encoder, where you need multiple turns to set a time. The required back-and-forth movement of the hand is too complex for muscle memory. The rotary encoder skips steps if you move it too fast. The time dial does not move as it counts down, so you're forced to read the display to check the remaining time instead of just glancing at the dial. The only real improvement is the replacement of the door opening button with a more intuitive door handle.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago> The only real improvement is the replacement of the door opening button with a more intuitive door handle. Actually, it's not an improvement. A door opening button is easy to operate with one hand; a handle needs two in order not to shift the microwave. At least all the microwaves I've seen have doors requiring noticeable amount of force to open. My guess is it's to avoid the situation in which a large dish rotating inside pushes on the doors and opens it.
- clarry 9y agoI can open my own as well as family members' microwaves' doors by the handle with one hand just fine, without shifting it. The trick is a snappy tug.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]