5 ms·

> Something that has been lost in all glass cockpits is the tactile feel of pressing buttons and knowing you got a response – I found you could enter Lat/Longs

> Something that has been lost in all glass cockpits is the tactile feel of pressing buttons and knowing you got a response – I found you could enter Lat/Longs by feel whilst looking out the window. This is something you definitely can’t do ‘on the glass’ on current jets. I also really miss this from the dumbphone era. I used to be able to type SMS texts by feel using a T9 keypad while walking down the street, and only occasionally have to check the screen to see what I wrote. Smartphone QWERTY makes this impossible.

JumpCrisscross 6y ago
> Smartphone QWERTY makes this impossible I can absolutely type in my iPhone without looking at it. I just typed this comment with zero visual contact with my phone and no edits. (EDIT: this is a weirdly divisive comment.)
- albertgoeswoof 6y ago
  M testing this out now, let’s see if I can dk it Edit: the answer is no
  - rjzzleep 6y ago
    I would agree with you from a personal perspective but my partner frequently does this on her Android. I personally find it creepy of her looking at me while obviously doing something else. I think I will never really get the hang of the mobile keyboard(though I tend to use touch swiping), because I just consider it inferior to any physical normal sized keyboard.
- harperlee 6y ago
  Good for you! That’s an awesome skill. The point is, tactile feedback is essential for doing that to most of us, not that 0 people can do it.
  - JumpCrisscross 6y ago
    > not that 0 people can do it Everyone in my (much) younger sister’s age group can do this. They grew up on touch devices. You and I didn’t. Just a note that one group’s personal experiences shouldn’t be generalised to the point of describing others’ as “impossible.”
    - harperlee 6y ago
      I agree that we should be careful with personal anecdotes, that's why I did not comment earlier. But I can say that personally I was also able to do it without looking to some extent (perhaps a whole sentence with very low issues to correct), and I'm slowly losing that ability (which was accentuated with a change of hardware, but I was also feeling the loss of accuracy beforehand).
- edejong 6y ago
  Now, this gets weird. I used to be able to do this on my iPhone 7. Now on the iPhone X I am making typos constantly...
  - JumpCrisscross 6y ago
    Same. I think those of us who learned to touch type on post-T9 devices find the smaller phones’ keyboards more familiar. Contrast that with twentysomethings I know, and the disparity disappears.
saiya-jin 6y ago
Same for cars interfaces. My 17-years old BMW has 0 big touchscreens, for everything there is a manual knob/button. I've found out I don't need more. I tweak most of stuff I need like AC and radio while driving without losing contact with the road even for a split of second. I know from my experience that I took my sight off the road, there could be an atomic blast in front of me and I would hardly notice it. Somebody slamming brakes in front of me might be peripherally noticed but without context could cause a stupid and dangerous reaction. When Tesla started basically putting tablets instead of knobs some folks cheered. I couldn't be more sad for this trend. Clearly worse direction for those like me.
- dirktheman 6y ago
  Or even worse: little touchscreens that resemble a physical knob/button, even with haptic feedback! All physical buttons/switches in my 20 year old Mitsubishi still work. I have a feeling the newfangled, fancy LCD-switches don't last that long, and will be very expensive to fix when they break.

JumpCrisscross 6y ago

> Smartphone QWERTY makes this impossible I can absolutely type in my iPhone without looking at it. I just typed this comment with zero visual contact with my phone and no edits. (EDIT: this is a weirdly divisive comment.)

albertgoeswoof 6y ago
M testing this out now, let’s see if I can dk it Edit: the answer is no
- rjzzleep 6y ago
  I would agree with you from a personal perspective but my partner frequently does this on her Android. I personally find it creepy of her looking at me while obviously doing something else. I think I will never really get the hang of the mobile keyboard(though I tend to use touch swiping), because I just consider it inferior to any physical normal sized keyboard.
harperlee 6y ago
Good for you! That’s an awesome skill. The point is, tactile feedback is essential for doing that to most of us, not that 0 people can do it.
- JumpCrisscross 6y ago
  > not that 0 people can do it Everyone in my (much) younger sister’s age group can do this. They grew up on touch devices. You and I didn’t. Just a note that one group’s personal experiences shouldn’t be generalised to the point of describing others’ as “impossible.”
  - harperlee 6y ago
    I agree that we should be careful with personal anecdotes, that's why I did not comment earlier. But I can say that personally I was also able to do it without looking to some extent (perhaps a whole sentence with very low issues to correct), and I'm slowly losing that ability (which was accentuated with a change of hardware, but I was also feeling the loss of accuracy beforehand).
edejong 6y ago
Now, this gets weird. I used to be able to do this on my iPhone 7. Now on the iPhone X I am making typos constantly...
- JumpCrisscross 6y ago
  Same. I think those of us who learned to touch type on post-T9 devices find the smaller phones’ keyboards more familiar. Contrast that with twentysomethings I know, and the disparity disappears.

saiya-jin 6y ago

Same for cars interfaces. My 17-years old BMW has 0 big touchscreens, for everything there is a manual knob/button. I've found out I don't need more. I tweak most of stuff I need like AC and radio while driving without losing contact with the road even for a split of second. I know from my experience that I took my sight off the road, there could be an atomic blast in front of me and I would hardly notice it. Somebody slamming brakes in front of me might be peripherally noticed but without context could cause a stupid and dangerous reaction. When Tesla started basically putting tablets instead of knobs some folks cheered. I couldn't be more sad for this trend. Clearly worse direction for those like me.

dirktheman 6y ago
Or even worse: little touchscreens that resemble a physical knob/button, even with haptic feedback! All physical buttons/switches in my 20 year old Mitsubishi still work. I have a feeling the newfangled, fancy LCD-switches don't last that long, and will be very expensive to fix when they break.