3 ms·

Not aq big fan of Toyota's design, but is their UX seriously worse than "oh, let's control AC system from a touchscreen" nonsense from Tesla?

by Fins 8y ago

Latteland 8y ago
Yes, I think Toyota is bad. The S is maybe a little bit better than the 3, but they'll improve the 3. On the S the AC controls are always at the bottom of the screen, touch it at any time and they show up. The tesla isn't perfect, but it's so much more advanced than the competitors. Tesla needs competition so they can get better. Today's model S is the same as the first one I bought in 2012, except for a bit better battery and now AWD is available.
- Fins 8y ago
  Good thing I don't plan to get a Toyota, then. And at one point they were known for good ergonomics. On the other hand, in my 2011 car (and it wasn't exactly anything new at the time either), adjusting AC does not require looking down at the screen, let alone hunting for a flat and featureless part of a touchscreen, that can move with the next software update. Tesla is a great idea. But IMHO the execution is nowhere near what the price would suggest, and it is advanced in a very SV way, the way Juicero was advanced -- by adding extra tech and complexity to things that have been solved for longer than anyone at Tesla has been alive, and only add to the price with no improvement in UX (or, as with these, with an actual degradation in UX).
  - Latteland 8y ago
    You can also adjust the ac from the steering wheel too. on the S you can setup the button on right side of the steering wheel to control whatever you want, without using the screen (there's one on the left side of the steering wheel for volume). On the S there's a screen behind the wheel, you can see it while looking out the front window to the road in your vision. So you can make it cooler or warmer right there. I agree though that using buttons that you learn the location of by muscle memory and don't have to look at are a bit safer. Now I can do it automatically without having to look around; that would be much harder the first few times.
    - Fins 8y ago
      Yeah, that's better, but of course it means that you either can use that button on the steering wheel for AC, or you can use it for something else. And I am not sure if having reprogrammable buttons in a vehicle is a good idea. If I am recalling it correctly, ergonomics started as something to pay attention to when airplanes suddenly started crashing -- apparently a shape of some control has been changed, and pilots, using muscle memory, would do a wrong thing. Putting more reprogrammable buttons is better than nothing, I guess, but in the end it is trying to fix, with more technology, self-inflicted problems caused by using more advanced technology than was warranted in the first place. And judging from the number of comments I see on HN about Teslas lacking physical volume control, discoverability of the interface leaves much to be desired.

Not aq big fan of Toyota's design, but is their UX seriously worse than "oh, let's control AC system from a touchscreen" nonsense from Tesla?

by Fins 8y ago

Not aq big fan of Toyota's design, but is their UX seriously worse than "oh, let's control AC system from a touchscreen" nonsense from Tesla?

Latteland 8y ago

Yes, I think Toyota is bad. The S is maybe a little bit better than the 3, but they'll improve the 3. On the S the AC controls are always at the bottom of the screen, touch it at any time and they show up. The tesla isn't perfect, but it's so much more advanced than the competitors. Tesla needs competition so they can get better. Today's model S is the same as the first one I bought in 2012, except for a bit better battery and now AWD is available.

Fins 8y ago
Good thing I don't plan to get a Toyota, then. And at one point they were known for good ergonomics. On the other hand, in my 2011 car (and it wasn't exactly anything new at the time either), adjusting AC does not require looking down at the screen, let alone hunting for a flat and featureless part of a touchscreen, that can move with the next software update. Tesla is a great idea. But IMHO the execution is nowhere near what the price would suggest, and it is advanced in a very SV way, the way Juicero was advanced -- by adding extra tech and complexity to things that have been solved for longer than anyone at Tesla has been alive, and only add to the price with no improvement in UX (or, as with these, with an actual degradation in UX).
- Latteland 8y ago
  You can also adjust the ac from the steering wheel too. on the S you can setup the button on right side of the steering wheel to control whatever you want, without using the screen (there's one on the left side of the steering wheel for volume). On the S there's a screen behind the wheel, you can see it while looking out the front window to the road in your vision. So you can make it cooler or warmer right there. I agree though that using buttons that you learn the location of by muscle memory and don't have to look at are a bit safer. Now I can do it automatically without having to look around; that would be much harder the first few times.
  - Fins 8y ago
    Yeah, that's better, but of course it means that you either can use that button on the steering wheel for AC, or you can use it for something else. And I am not sure if having reprogrammable buttons in a vehicle is a good idea. If I am recalling it correctly, ergonomics started as something to pay attention to when airplanes suddenly started crashing -- apparently a shape of some control has been changed, and pilots, using muscle memory, would do a wrong thing. Putting more reprogrammable buttons is better than nothing, I guess, but in the end it is trying to fix, with more technology, self-inflicted problems caused by using more advanced technology than was warranted in the first place. And judging from the number of comments I see on HN about Teslas lacking physical volume control, discoverability of the interface leaves much to be desired.