14 ms·

I really hate touch screens, more so in a vehicle. Physical buttons will be a deciding factor in my next vehicle purchase.

by snarfy 7y ago

saagarjha 7y ago
> I really hate touch screens Do you own a modern smartphone?
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  I think "in cars" was the implicit qualifier there.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    Why do you think so? There's a pretty explicit qualifier that seemingly distinguishes that the snarfy hates all touch screens, especially when they're in cars. I'm responding explicitly to the first part while ignoring the second half, with which I somewhat agree.
    - snarfy 7y ago
      Yeah, I hate touch screens. If I can use something else I will. Phones are small enough there really isn't a better alternative to a mouse, but I would still rather have a physical keyboard than a touch keyboard. On laptops with touch pads I always connect a mouse. If it's a laptop or desktop with a touch screen, the last thing I want touching the screen is my greasy fingers. I have a mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse for a reason. They are superior input devices.
- meggar 7y ago
  Clearly a giant Blackberry would be a better UI for a car.
  - jsight 7y ago
    That's exactly what I think about in this debate. The myriad of physical buttons on a lot of cars actually isn't better than the touchscreen. The notable exception for might be climate controls, as those tend to be placed well enough to reach without looking. Many other physical controls aren't done so well.
- simion314 7y ago
  >Do you own a modern smartphone? Do you navigate your phone while driving? The implication is that with physical button interfaces you can do a lot of stuff without moving your eyes from the road. I own a smartphone since 1 year ago and I don't like the touchscreen, I almost never type on it and when I am forced to I hate it. The advantage vs my old phone is the accessibility features in Android makes it easier for me to read my messages and when needed I can use Text To Speech. Touchscreen input did not won because is better but because it is included in the screen so you can keep the device smaller, but keep in mind that the important functions on the phone are still done with physical button like the Power button, volume buttons, you can usually open your camera by tapping a physical button a few time, why ? Because nobody wants to waste time and open an app to change the volume.
  - jsight 7y ago
    > Do you navigate your phone while driving? The implication is that with physical button interfaces you can do a lot of stuff without moving your eyes from the road. I wouldn't do that if my phone had physical buttons either. I mean, it isn't as if the driving interface in question has no physical controls. The ones that it has are roughly analogous to your power button, volume buttons, etc. The ones that people are debating are a bit like the physical mute buttons that phones used to sometimes have. Some people still want them, some don't care, but there is plenty of debate.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    > Do you navigate your phone while driving? No? I don't understand why the ability to use my phone while driving is important here. > Touchscreen input did not won because is better but because it is included in the screen so you can keep the device smaller, but keep in mind that the important functions on the phone are still done with physical button like the Power button, volume buttons, you can usually open your camera by tapping a physical button a few time, why ? Touchscreens won because they're versatile: enough so that I don't actually have a physical button on my phone to open the camera.
    - simion314 7y ago
- danso 7y ago
  Ignoring how the controls on a car are fundamentally different than for a phone, the iPhone 8 and X models still have non-touchscreen controls for common in-the-moment phone operations, e.g. changing the volume and toggling ring and silent.
  - zaroth 7y ago
    Like the Tesla, which has the analogous non-touchscreen controls for driving.
- raxxorrax 7y ago
  Do you own a keyboard? Haptics are important, especially if you do not want to look at the input device. I tried writing on an iPad. It just doesn't work beyond extremely basic use cases and you need to check everything. I don't know if a photodiode is cheaper than a mechanical switch, but I hate this trend in consumer products to more touch input. It certainly has advantages in durability and dirt protection, but interfacing by touch is just so bad.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    > Do you own a keyboard? Yes, I do, but that doesn't mean I hate touchscreens…
    - raxxorrax 7y ago
      fair enough. I am still jaded that smart phones didn't come with an extensible keyboard and Debian OS + crappy dialing app. Why do we still keep calling them smart? It is an absolute catastrophe and I associate that with touch interfaces all over.
- navigatesol 7y ago
  >Do you own a modern smartphone? Yes, and where I live it's illegal to operate while driving.
rcMgD2BwE72F 7y ago
Have you driven a Tesla for a few days?
tomp 7y ago
> Physical buttons will be a deciding factor in my next vehicle purchase. Mine too. I can't wait until more cars have Tesla-like touch screens. I don't really need/want more buttons than 4 blinkers and lock car doors.
- Fins 7y ago
  As long as it doesn't have a start button either, it might even be safe enough for other people on the road.
matthewdgreen 7y ago
We’ve been hearing people say they want physical buttons in smartphones virtually forever, and yet when offered the choice, what the vast majority of consumers actually purchase is phones with larger and more expressive screens that can display more data and make gesture interaction easier. Beyond a few key controls (audio volume, cruise control) there are very few vehicle controls that work better in physical form. GPS input and map interaction in most small-screen modern cars is a horror show; people can easily get killed using it. Temperature controls and basic audio selection might be an exception, but even those are secondary functions that aren’t essential to driving. Most of the remaining vehicle settings are rarely used while you’re actually driving. So what are these buttons people want?
nkrisc 7y ago
I'm with you. I recently purchased a car and was looking to avoid screens, push-button start, and push-button shifting. Unfortunately screens are going to be hard to avoid given that all new cars in the US are required to have a backup camera. That is, at least, a useful feature. Some cars like newer Audis even have backup camera screens that only pop up when you're reversing. Pretty nice. Push button start is also going to be hard to avoid, almost all new cars I'm aware of have it. There's some features to disable for security reasons though, such as where touching the door handle will unlock the car if the key fob is near. There are reports of thieves employing signal repeaters to use this to steal cars while the fob is in the house nearby. Lastly, push-button shifting, what a mess. Thankfully there are still many cars that don't implement this feature and my hope is it will remain a fad or not popular. I ended up buying a 2019 Forester. I wasn't happy that it had a screen but at least on the trim level I got it's smaller (and cheaper!). I'll have to make peace with this one because it's the future. It also has push-button start, but this is pretty much unavoidable as well on new cars.

I really hate touch screens, more so in a vehicle. Physical buttons will be a deciding factor in my next vehicle purchase.

by snarfy 7y ago

I really hate touch screens, more so in a vehicle. Physical buttons will be a deciding factor in my next vehicle purchase.

saagarjha 7y ago

> I really hate touch screens Do you own a modern smartphone?

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
I think "in cars" was the implicit qualifier there.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Why do you think so? There's a pretty explicit qualifier that seemingly distinguishes that the snarfy hates all touch screens, especially when they're in cars. I'm responding explicitly to the first part while ignoring the second half, with which I somewhat agree.
  - snarfy 7y ago
    Yeah, I hate touch screens. If I can use something else I will. Phones are small enough there really isn't a better alternative to a mouse, but I would still rather have a physical keyboard than a touch keyboard. On laptops with touch pads I always connect a mouse. If it's a laptop or desktop with a touch screen, the last thing I want touching the screen is my greasy fingers. I have a mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse for a reason. They are superior input devices.
meggar 7y ago
Clearly a giant Blackberry would be a better UI for a car.
- jsight 7y ago
  That's exactly what I think about in this debate. The myriad of physical buttons on a lot of cars actually isn't better than the touchscreen. The notable exception for might be climate controls, as those tend to be placed well enough to reach without looking. Many other physical controls aren't done so well.
simion314 7y ago
>Do you own a modern smartphone? Do you navigate your phone while driving? The implication is that with physical button interfaces you can do a lot of stuff without moving your eyes from the road. I own a smartphone since 1 year ago and I don't like the touchscreen, I almost never type on it and when I am forced to I hate it. The advantage vs my old phone is the accessibility features in Android makes it easier for me to read my messages and when needed I can use Text To Speech. Touchscreen input did not won because is better but because it is included in the screen so you can keep the device smaller, but keep in mind that the important functions on the phone are still done with physical button like the Power button, volume buttons, you can usually open your camera by tapping a physical button a few time, why ? Because nobody wants to waste time and open an app to change the volume.
- jsight 7y ago
  > Do you navigate your phone while driving? The implication is that with physical button interfaces you can do a lot of stuff without moving your eyes from the road. I wouldn't do that if my phone had physical buttons either. I mean, it isn't as if the driving interface in question has no physical controls. The ones that it has are roughly analogous to your power button, volume buttons, etc. The ones that people are debating are a bit like the physical mute buttons that phones used to sometimes have. Some people still want them, some don't care, but there is plenty of debate.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  > Do you navigate your phone while driving? No? I don't understand why the ability to use my phone while driving is important here. > Touchscreen input did not won because is better but because it is included in the screen so you can keep the device smaller, but keep in mind that the important functions on the phone are still done with physical button like the Power button, volume buttons, you can usually open your camera by tapping a physical button a few time, why ? Touchscreens won because they're versatile: enough so that I don't actually have a physical button on my phone to open the camera.
  - simion314 7y ago
danso 7y ago
Ignoring how the controls on a car are fundamentally different than for a phone, the iPhone 8 and X models still have non-touchscreen controls for common in-the-moment phone operations, e.g. changing the volume and toggling ring and silent.
- zaroth 7y ago
  Like the Tesla, which has the analogous non-touchscreen controls for driving.
raxxorrax 7y ago
Do you own a keyboard? Haptics are important, especially if you do not want to look at the input device. I tried writing on an iPad. It just doesn't work beyond extremely basic use cases and you need to check everything. I don't know if a photodiode is cheaper than a mechanical switch, but I hate this trend in consumer products to more touch input. It certainly has advantages in durability and dirt protection, but interfacing by touch is just so bad.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  > Do you own a keyboard? Yes, I do, but that doesn't mean I hate touchscreens…
  - raxxorrax 7y ago
    fair enough. I am still jaded that smart phones didn't come with an extensible keyboard and Debian OS + crappy dialing app. Why do we still keep calling them smart? It is an absolute catastrophe and I associate that with touch interfaces all over.
navigatesol 7y ago
>Do you own a modern smartphone? Yes, and where I live it's illegal to operate while driving.

rcMgD2BwE72F 7y ago

Have you driven a Tesla for a few days?

tomp 7y ago

> Physical buttons will be a deciding factor in my next vehicle purchase. Mine too. I can't wait until more cars have Tesla-like touch screens. I don't really need/want more buttons than 4 blinkers and lock car doors.

Fins 7y ago
As long as it doesn't have a start button either, it might even be safe enough for other people on the road.

matthewdgreen 7y ago

We’ve been hearing people say they want physical buttons in smartphones virtually forever, and yet when offered the choice, what the vast majority of consumers actually purchase is phones with larger and more expressive screens that can display more data and make gesture interaction easier. Beyond a few key controls (audio volume, cruise control) there are very few vehicle controls that work better in physical form. GPS input and map interaction in most small-screen modern cars is a horror show; people can easily get killed using it. Temperature controls and basic audio selection might be an exception, but even those are secondary functions that aren’t essential to driving. Most of the remaining vehicle settings are rarely used while you’re actually driving. So what are these buttons people want?

nkrisc 7y ago

I'm with you. I recently purchased a car and was looking to avoid screens, push-button start, and push-button shifting. Unfortunately screens are going to be hard to avoid given that all new cars in the US are required to have a backup camera. That is, at least, a useful feature. Some cars like newer Audis even have backup camera screens that only pop up when you're reversing. Pretty nice. Push button start is also going to be hard to avoid, almost all new cars I'm aware of have it. There's some features to disable for security reasons though, such as where touching the door handle will unlock the car if the key fob is near. There are reports of thieves employing signal repeaters to use this to steal cars while the fob is in the house nearby. Lastly, push-button shifting, what a mess. Thankfully there are still many cars that don't implement this feature and my hope is it will remain a fad or not popular. I ended up buying a 2019 Forester. I wasn't happy that it had a screen but at least on the trim level I got it's smaller (and cheaper!). I'll have to make peace with this one because it's the future. It also has push-button start, but this is pretty much unavoidable as well on new cars.