Non-touchscreen interfaces, My Bad Trends of 2018!

[Jimmy Recard]

I prefer the click knob type of system. I've found that Audis seem to have a pretty good one. I can get into an unfamiliar Audi and instantly find the system obvious and comfortable to use

[Pica-Pica]

For all the reasons others have stated, I would not like to have a car with a touch screen.

[brickwall]

I echo lots of the thoughts on here. Touchscreens are fine for stationary use and more in-depth operations (inputting an address on Sat nav, changing settings, etc.) but are terrible on the move.

I found the VW system in 2011 way ahead of the game with a large touchscreen, but complimented by a large rotary controller and hard buttons for common activities.

[kambites]

Touchscreens are fine for functions which you don't have a reason to use whilst actually driving but I want proper buttons for things I use a lot. Menu driven systems fall somewhere between the two.

In the long run I think the solution has got to be voice control for many features; especially relatively complex things like programming the sat nav.

Edited by kambites on Friday 12th October 16:06

[loose cannon]

Pica-Pica said:

For all the reasons others have stated, I would not like to have a car with a touch screen.

Me neither perhaps they will start taxing cars with touchscreens more after everybody has no choice but to have them it’s the only way to combat the issue after they have developed it

[anonymous-user]

brickwall said:

I echo lots of the thoughts on here. Touchscreens are fine for stationary use and more in-depth operations (inputting an address on Sat nav, changing settings, etc.) but are terrible on the move.

I found the VW system in 2011 way ahead of the game with a large touchscreen, but complimented by a large rotary controller and hard buttons for common activities.

VW took the rotary controller for scrolling though menus and most of the hard buttons out post-2016 I think, but are now putting the rotary controller (at least) back in again.
I don't understand why the people who design these interfaces didn't realise that a touchscreen is harder to use on the move than a rotary dial and physical buttons - unless it was purely a cost-saving exercise, and to hell with safety?

[alorotom]

I initially found touchscreens a pain in a car but a good touchscreen can be much easier than buttons especially when combined with CarPlay and your personal setup - plus wrapping things up with Siri (et al) makes it even easier and zero need to look at the screen to get it to do what you want

[swisstoni]

Basic physics and anatomy means that the finger tends to be on the end of a long heavy swingy thing called an arm. On a touchscreen the finger has to line up with an area on a screen which is haptically no different from any other area on that screen. In moving bumpy environment that isn't too good.

With a button, the button obviously feels different from the surrounding area. With a quick glance the finger can be aimed at the button (unless the user is so familiar with the layout that even a glance isn't required) and can arrive at roughly the intended place without any further visual input.

[Tomo1971]

alorotom said:

I initially found touchscreens a pain in a car but a good touchscreen can be much easier than buttons especially when combined with CarPlay and your personal setup - plus wrapping things up with Siri (et al) makes it even easier and zero need to look at the screen to get it to do what you want

Can Siri adjust the heating? Heated seats? Turn off the parking sensors?

Touchscreens are good to use stationary but take far too much concentration when moving... I don’t mean knowing how to get to the item you want but been able to do it with no or very little movement of the eye from road to screen.

Ok, some systems the not so,common functions on a dial and non touch screen system take a few presses to get to but if I want my a/c on or off, the button is right there to see and easily touch with very little attention taken off the road. If the temp needs changing, a rotary control, can get to that without looking. I defy anyone with their heating and other basic controls on a TS to be able to use them as quickly and less distracting than normal dials.

Music, media, car set up etc, fine, get them on a TS... but these are not controls important to driving.

For those older than 20, remember the Nokia 6310s etc with T9 predictive text? How easy to text with one hand with one of those without taking your eye off the road... same on the latest touchscreen phones - not a chance. It’s kinda contradictory that we are stopping people from using phones while driving (the biggest issue been people using the phone not nessasarily the actual call from the phone) yet we seem to want touch screens to adjust the air con?

[cmvtec]

I've been driving a 2018 C200 for a fortnight now, whilst my X-Type is off the road. The X has a very basic touch screen, which is quite intuitive. All it does is HVAC, nav, phone and brightness/ screen settings. That a absolutely fine for those functions and is very easy to use.

The Mercedes has the click/wheel/dial combined with menu buttons on the dash and console. At first it came across as extremely convoluted but after two weeks feels very easy to use, and with the amount of functions operated from the screen, I definitely wouldn't want a touchscreen in that car.

Only problem is I keep going for the wheel to put it in Drive or Park, and putting it in neutral whilst trying to wash the windscreen or operate the wipers. That's got more to do with me being cack handed, though.

Prognosis: system and car dependant.

[Francis85]

Touchscreens are great as long as you don't have to touch them to use them.

[TheInsanity1234]

kambites said:

Touchscreens are fine for functions which you don't have a reason to use whilst actually driving but I want proper buttons for things I use a lot. Menu driven systems fall somewhere between the two.

In the long run I think the solution has got to be voice control for many features; especially relatively complex things like programming the sat nav.

Edited by kambites on Friday 12th October 16:06

No thank you, I'm profoundly deaf and whilst I speak very well, there is no voice recognition software that seems capable of understanding me.

I don't want to be driving along and have to battle with the car because I want to set the satnav to take me home and it keeps trying to call people or turn on the window demisters or some stupid crap.

Give me a touch screen, a separate central controller, and some physical buttons on the wheel.

That'll do me just fine thank you.

[AlexHat]

I don't find a touchscreen to be terrible when in traffic, but at motorway speeds its useless.

Also whoever decided to take away ALL the heater controls and put them in a menu, in a menu should be made to use their touchscreen at Autobahn speeds.

Why they decided to improve on two/three knobs and a couple of buttons I don't know.

[kambites]

TheInsanity1234 said:

No thank you, I'm profoundly deaf and whilst I speak very well, there is no voice recognition software that seems capable of understanding me.

I don't want to be driving along and have to battle with the car because I want to set the satnav to take me home and it keeps trying to call people or turn on the window demisters or some stupid crap.

Give me a touch screen, a separate central controller, and some physical buttons on the wheel.

That'll do me just fine thank you.

There's no reason manufacturers shouldn't provide both (or all) options.

[CaptainMorgan]

I find the BMW setup spot on personally. It covers all bases, touch screen, iDrive wheel/knob and voice control. I found I used the knob most, occasionally the voice input and never the touch screen for reasons already covered. It's super intuitive once used for a while and I had very few issues with it. I also used an Audi S3 (2017ish) and that worked well too, similar setup.

I recently drove a Kia that had touch screen only, it was alright sat stationary but trying to change the radio station when moving was a nightmare.