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I have a Ford Fusion 2013, AC and radio is controlled with those soft touch buttons, man I hate those buttons, I don’t want to take my eyes from the road just t

by elboru 9y ago

I have a Ford Fusion 2013, AC and radio is controlled with those soft touch buttons, man I hate those buttons, I don’t want to take my eyes from the road just to change the radio! I don’t get why the obsession about putting “touch” functionality to every single damn thing, they don’t provide a single UX improvement.

ahartmetz 9y ago
Still a remnant of the hype about certain Apple products, it seems.
- ahartmetz 9y ago
  Huh, downvotes. Seriously, I was there, working in a related field at the time of the iPhone and iPad hypes, and that was exactly when ill-advised uses of touchscreens popped up everywhere. They became the thing every product needed to have to be perceived as modern. Just to remind you how hypey it was, "tablets will replace PC-type computers for most consumers in the next few years" and "world's first iPad DJ". I wish I was making up the last one.
  - greedo 9y ago
    Considering the number of touchbased phones and tablets sold world-wide, compared to traditional PCs, I think the hype was understated.
    - ahartmetz 9y ago
      No. There was little replacement of PCs, and tablet sales stagnated pretty quickly. https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad-sales-since-q3-2010/#0 https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad... Smartphones are something else, they are the most useful computers given the limitation that they have to fit into a pocket. Touchscreens make good use of available space there, that's all.
pwg 9y ago
> they don’t provide a single UX improvement. They don't (well, soft touch radio/heat/AC/etc. buttons). And in my opinion, this is one place where some more safety regulations really are needed to force a return to physical buttons. But they _do_ provide an additional line item in the list of "comparison specs" to show a check-mark for their car and no check-mark for a competitors product. And that is the reason for the 'race' to add touch screens for everything that used to have a hard button. Look at our car, it has so many more "features" than theirs.... That, and the fact that a single touch screen can replace a whole host of hard buttons, eliminating the design, tooling, manufacturing, shipping, and assembly costs associated with all the old hard button devices.
- orbitur 9y ago
  I moved from a cheap Toyota Yaris to an expensive Subaru Legacy. Not only do I have a touchscreen radio, but the climate control section is a large array of buttons, with the exception changing the temperature with a knob. Every single fucking action I need to perform in that area requires that I take my eyes off the road. Want the heat on my feet instead of my face or the windshield? Then I need to press up/down and iterate through the air directions. Need to increase/decrease the air speed? Find the left/right arrows and press them. Oops, I pressed the Defrost button which turns on the windshield vents full blast! Oops, I pressed the "Auto" button which does... something. No fucking clue what that button does. As shitty as my old Yaris was, I had a knob for air position, another knob for speed, and a button right in the middle of the knob for rear defrost. The knobs were huge and clunked into place. After a week in the car I knew exactly what to do without ever looking down, and I miss it dearly. And my touchscreen radio takes like 10 seconds to boot and it warns me never to look at it while I'm on the road or some bullshit. If I need to change stations I need to look down and find the touchscreen buttons. I'm all mad thinking about it now, wish I could return the car just for this shit.
- userbinator 9y ago
  And in my opinion, this is one place where some more safety regulations really are needed to force a return to physical buttons. ...I've always wondered, if it weren't for some regulations, would manufacturers replace the steering wheel, pedals, and gearshift with a touchscreen? That would be really scary. The value of the feedback of physical controls can't be underappreciated.

by elboru 9y ago

ahartmetz 9y ago

Still a remnant of the hype about certain Apple products, it seems.

ahartmetz 9y ago
Huh, downvotes. Seriously, I was there, working in a related field at the time of the iPhone and iPad hypes, and that was exactly when ill-advised uses of touchscreens popped up everywhere. They became the thing every product needed to have to be perceived as modern. Just to remind you how hypey it was, "tablets will replace PC-type computers for most consumers in the next few years" and "world's first iPad DJ". I wish I was making up the last one.
- greedo 9y ago
  Considering the number of touchbased phones and tablets sold world-wide, compared to traditional PCs, I think the hype was understated.
  - ahartmetz 9y ago
    No. There was little replacement of PCs, and tablet sales stagnated pretty quickly. https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad-sales-since-q3-2010/#0 https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad... Smartphones are something else, they are the most useful computers given the limitation that they have to fit into a pocket. Touchscreens make good use of available space there, that's all.

pwg 9y ago

> they don’t provide a single UX improvement. They don't (well, soft touch radio/heat/AC/etc. buttons). And in my opinion, this is one place where some more safety regulations really are needed to force a return to physical buttons. But they _do_ provide an additional line item in the list of "comparison specs" to show a check-mark for their car and no check-mark for a competitors product. And that is the reason for the 'race' to add touch screens for everything that used to have a hard button. Look at our car, it has so many more "features" than theirs.... That, and the fact that a single touch screen can replace a whole host of hard buttons, eliminating the design, tooling, manufacturing, shipping, and assembly costs associated with all the old hard button devices.

orbitur 9y ago
I moved from a cheap Toyota Yaris to an expensive Subaru Legacy. Not only do I have a touchscreen radio, but the climate control section is a large array of buttons, with the exception changing the temperature with a knob. Every single fucking action I need to perform in that area requires that I take my eyes off the road. Want the heat on my feet instead of my face or the windshield? Then I need to press up/down and iterate through the air directions. Need to increase/decrease the air speed? Find the left/right arrows and press them. Oops, I pressed the Defrost button which turns on the windshield vents full blast! Oops, I pressed the "Auto" button which does... something. No fucking clue what that button does. As shitty as my old Yaris was, I had a knob for air position, another knob for speed, and a button right in the middle of the knob for rear defrost. The knobs were huge and clunked into place. After a week in the car I knew exactly what to do without ever looking down, and I miss it dearly. And my touchscreen radio takes like 10 seconds to boot and it warns me never to look at it while I'm on the road or some bullshit. If I need to change stations I need to look down and find the touchscreen buttons. I'm all mad thinking about it now, wish I could return the car just for this shit.
userbinator 9y ago
And in my opinion, this is one place where some more safety regulations really are needed to force a return to physical buttons. ...I've always wondered, if it weren't for some regulations, would manufacturers replace the steering wheel, pedals, and gearshift with a touchscreen? That would be really scary. The value of the feedback of physical controls can't be underappreciated.