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The Tesla touchscreen interface is really good, partly I think because Tesla is just as much a software company as they are a car company. The other car manufa

The Tesla touchscreen interface is really good, partly I think because Tesla is just as much a software company as they are a car company. The other car manufacturers UIs are atrocious and their historical unwillingness to use car play has set them back. The tactile thing is one of those arguments that sounds good, but is just wrong. It’s like people arguing for the return of the blackberry form factor in smartphones.

frosted-flakes 7y ago
> It’s like people arguing for the return of the blackberry form factor in smartphones. Is there something wrong with that? The BlackBerry form factor is the best one, in my opinion. This reply was written from one.
- xedeon 7y ago
  What you're alluding to here is personal preference. If the Blackberry form factor is truly the best, people would still be buying them today. One of Steve Jobs's famous argument on this is that you can make the UI better over time on touchscreen interfaces compared to QWERTY based ones.
  - slfnflctd 7y ago
    [most popular] != [best]|[fits all use cases]
    - xedeon 7y ago
      > [most popular] != [best]|[fits all use cases] I know you're trying to be snarky, but there is no product that "fits all use cases" because this implies that it's perfect. Therefore, your pseudo code statement is inherently flawed. A perfect product or service simply does NOT exist. If it does, feel free to prove me wrong otherwise.
  - frosted-flakes 7y ago
    > What you're alluding to here is personal preference. I wasn't alluding to anything. I said so explicitly that it was my personal opinion. > If the Blackberry form factor is truly the best, people would still be buying them today. People are buying them. They're not as popular as Apple's iPhone, but that says more about Apple's marketing than anything else. > you can make the UI better over time on touchscreen interfaces compared to QWERTY based ones. My phone has a touch screen (a large one), and if I really want to, I can bring up a virtual keyboard, so your point doesn't make sense. And a hardware keyboard doesn't mean you can't make the user interface better. Android doesn't make very good use of the physical keys, but my old BB10 OS BlackBerry did, because it was designed with it in mind, and it was continually being improved.
    - xedeon 7y ago
      > And a hardware keyboard doesn't mean you can't make the user interface better. How can you do this when the device has already been shipped with the keyboard? Unless you're suggesting that Blackberry offers an unrealistic replacement program to change the keys and their function. Also tactile keyboard takes away a significant screen real estate. The market has also proven that people want bigger screens. There is no disputing that.
      - frosted-flakes 7y ago
        I don't know if you've ever used a BlackBerry, but it's not like the buttons on a car radio, which are fixed in function. The keyboard is merely an input method, like the keyboard on a desktop or laptop computer. And those don't seem to have a problem with changing user interfaces. Furthermore, the keyboard does not significantly impact the size of the screen (it's only about an inch tall)[1], and it means the software keyboard doesn't pop-up and change the size of the screen, which is always disruptive. Also, the keyboard is touch sensitive, so the behaviour of the gestures can be changed in software (like swipe left to delete a word). [1] The screen is too large for my preferences anyway.
    - fossuser 7y ago
      I'm not the person you responded to, but are people buying them? I'd actually be curious how many people are buying them - it wasn't enough to save RIM. I think not as popular as the iPhone is a pretty big understatement and thinking that's mostly about Apple's marketing comes across as pretty clueless to me. Some people still prefer horses to cars, but it'd be a generally bad idea for someone getting into the transportation business to focus on horse drawn carriages. Popular doesn't necessarily mean better, but when you're an extreme outlier compared to what's dominant in the market and what's dominant in the market directly out-competed your preference when it had dominant market advantage, there's probably a reason.

frosted-flakes 7y ago

> It’s like people arguing for the return of the blackberry form factor in smartphones. Is there something wrong with that? The BlackBerry form factor is the best one, in my opinion. This reply was written from one.

xedeon 7y ago
What you're alluding to here is personal preference. If the Blackberry form factor is truly the best, people would still be buying them today. One of Steve Jobs's famous argument on this is that you can make the UI better over time on touchscreen interfaces compared to QWERTY based ones.
- slfnflctd 7y ago
  [most popular] != [best]|[fits all use cases]
  - xedeon 7y ago
    > [most popular] != [best]|[fits all use cases] I know you're trying to be snarky, but there is no product that "fits all use cases" because this implies that it's perfect. Therefore, your pseudo code statement is inherently flawed. A perfect product or service simply does NOT exist. If it does, feel free to prove me wrong otherwise.
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  > What you're alluding to here is personal preference. I wasn't alluding to anything. I said so explicitly that it was my personal opinion. > If the Blackberry form factor is truly the best, people would still be buying them today. People are buying them. They're not as popular as Apple's iPhone, but that says more about Apple's marketing than anything else. > you can make the UI better over time on touchscreen interfaces compared to QWERTY based ones. My phone has a touch screen (a large one), and if I really want to, I can bring up a virtual keyboard, so your point doesn't make sense. And a hardware keyboard doesn't mean you can't make the user interface better. Android doesn't make very good use of the physical keys, but my old BB10 OS BlackBerry did, because it was designed with it in mind, and it was continually being improved.
  - xedeon 7y ago
    > And a hardware keyboard doesn't mean you can't make the user interface better. How can you do this when the device has already been shipped with the keyboard? Unless you're suggesting that Blackberry offers an unrealistic replacement program to change the keys and their function. Also tactile keyboard takes away a significant screen real estate. The market has also proven that people want bigger screens. There is no disputing that.
    - frosted-flakes 7y ago
      I don't know if you've ever used a BlackBerry, but it's not like the buttons on a car radio, which are fixed in function. The keyboard is merely an input method, like the keyboard on a desktop or laptop computer. And those don't seem to have a problem with changing user interfaces. Furthermore, the keyboard does not significantly impact the size of the screen (it's only about an inch tall)[1], and it means the software keyboard doesn't pop-up and change the size of the screen, which is always disruptive. Also, the keyboard is touch sensitive, so the behaviour of the gestures can be changed in software (like swipe left to delete a word). [1] The screen is too large for my preferences anyway.
  - fossuser 7y ago
    I'm not the person you responded to, but are people buying them? I'd actually be curious how many people are buying them - it wasn't enough to save RIM. I think not as popular as the iPhone is a pretty big understatement and thinking that's mostly about Apple's marketing comes across as pretty clueless to me. Some people still prefer horses to cars, but it'd be a generally bad idea for someone getting into the transportation business to focus on horse drawn carriages. Popular doesn't necessarily mean better, but when you're an extreme outlier compared to what's dominant in the market and what's dominant in the market directly out-competed your preference when it had dominant market advantage, there's probably a reason.