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You'll get both sides debating on this. There are pros and cons to the touch-screen Nav, such as ease of use, but fingerprints and driving hazards while reaching for the screen.
It isn't about being cheap. It may actually be more expensive to create a Nav screen and a joystick/rotary device. It's a matter of philosophy...
VW was developing a touchscreen system which also incorporated tactile feedback...but I don't know if this is in the same 'far off' realm as hydrogen vehicles, etc.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by tactile feedback, but they already have portable navs where the screen gives you a little "bump" to your fingers any time you press a button on the screen... so that you know you've pressed it. I tried it out at Best Buy and thought it was pretty cool.
VW was developing a touchscreen system which also incorporated tactile feedback...but I don't know if this is in the same 'far off' realm as hydrogen vehicles, etc.
IMO, touchscreen is the way to go.
Alpine has had that for a few years now. I have that on my Alpine touch screen monitor headunit. Alpine calls it "Pulse Touch" where you get a pulse feeback that mimmicks a button being pressed. It works okay. Smaller buttons give less feeback so those do't really feel realistic, but larger buttons seem to go an acceptable job of recreating the button feel.
May be be a little hard to have to touch the screen at the height and depth it's at on both the BMW and MB compared the Lexus.
That could very well be a possibility. For example. Acura uses both touch screen and joystick on their nav system. The TL is touch, but the RL is not. If you look at where the nav screen is on the RL it would be a little difficult to reach. I personally like when companies put the screen as high up and back as possible. For me it just makes it easier to see without turning my head too much away from the road. I kind of like that line of sight position.
That could very well be a possibility. For example. Acura uses both touch screen and joystick on their nav system. The TL is touch, but the RL is not. If you look at where the nav screen is on the RL it would be a little difficult to reach. I personally like when companies put the screen as high up and back as possible. For me it just makes it easier to see without turning my head too much away from the road. I kind of like that line of sight position.
The EU now requires that nav screens be put within a certain degree from the drivers view for that very reason.
I think MB/BMW's philosophy is that the driver shouldn't have to 'reach out' to touch the screen to do stuff. This kind of makes sense. Touch screens are fun geek technology, but many 'non-techies' still have trouble with it.
Granted, if a 'user' can't handle a touch screen they probably can't handle iDrive, MMI, or COMAND.
Voice commands over time may become the 'easiest'.
The EU now requires that nav screens be put within a certain degree from the drivers view for that very reason.
Do you happen to know what the degree is? Tha is good. I've always liked them that way. There are still diffrences between manufacturers so it would be interesting to see what the allowable off axis specs are.
Do you happen to know what the degree is? Tha is good. I've always liked them that way. There are still diffrences between manufacturers so it would be interesting to see what the allowable off axis specs are.
I'm not sure. I don't even have solid evidence of the new regulations. Let me go find out.
Edit/Add: Eh, that site is so huge. This might take a while. I remember a while ago in some auto magazine like Motor Trend or something. They had a short article on the S-Classes new Night Vision and showing off the new stuff. It mentioned the EU and the regulations. I think it was in 2005 when they started to debut the S-Class.
I think MB/BMW's philosophy is that the driver shouldn't have to 'reach out' to touch the screen to do stuff. This kind of makes sense. Touch screens are fun geek technology, but many 'non-techies' still have trouble with it.
Granted, if a 'user' can't handle a touch screen they probably can't handle iDrive, MMI, or COMAND.
Voice commands over time may become the 'easiest'.
Yeah. I think touching a screen that spells out the letters in big blocks is much easier than scrolling through them with a roller or a joystick. Touchscreen is much more intuitive honestly.
"Don't fix something that ain't broke" has a paired phrase: "Don't invent something that works like it's broken" (i-Drive)
ive been saying it but someone needs to combine the 2 technologies together. It would be practical to have a touchscreen to input letters and numbers, but a scroll wheel type thing for the menus. Having an ipod, i like the scroll option when scrolling through menus, songs, decreasing and increase stuff. So yah theres my 2 cents.