bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Why do you believe 'traditional' controls are ok while driving, but remote touch isn't?

Frankly the usability of just about all car interiors stinks these days. Too many controls. Too quickly obsolete and often so when it's first released. Voice recognition helps, but maybe there should be an option for the voice commands to come through Bluetooth earpiece so it doesn't matter if others in the vehicle are talking.

I8ABMR

There is something to be said about the very well designed system in the Lexus vehicles. Everything from NAV to button placement seems to work very very well for me

Sulu

What makes the traditional, mechanical (or electro-mechanical) control better than the modern remote touch is the immediate feedback that the single-function control allows. Push a switch to turn on the audio system, for instance, and your action is confirmed by the mechanical click of the switch and the sensuous feedback that the audio system turned on. Turn the dial to adjust volume and you get the immediate mechanical feedback of the twirling dial and the sensuous feedback as the volume gets louder or softer.

With modern remote touch – capacitive touch of touchscreens or the mouse-like system – however, the mechanical feedback may be there (but even that is not available with the capacitive touchscreens) but the immediate functional feedback is gone. If you had to go through a menu system to access the audio system for instance, you would have to turn your attention away from the road and away from driving to focus on accessing the particular menu that you want. Those precious seconds when your attention is turned away from the traffic on the street may be the difference between swerving out of the way of the driver in the next lane who is also fiddling with a remote touch or hitting that driver because you both are fiddling with menus.

spwolf

you can change presets via steering button (next, back), or wheel...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

not disagreeing there.

and agree that looking at screens to confirm touch or mouse functions is not good from a safety standpoint.

that's why i think voice control, if done really well, is the way to go, plus controls on the steering wheel. my lowly ford explorer has all this on steering wheel:
media select (radio, cd, sat, etc.)
cruise
audio (seek/select/volume)
temp +/-

it's very handy.

Lil4X

On the topic of controls, one of the big problems we have today is certainly too many of them, but often worse is their size and visibility. In our fleet we have three aftermarket entertainment systems, two Panasonic, one JVC. All are the now-standard 1 DIN form, yet they bristle with tiny grain-of-rice sized buttons that are fashionably black to match the rest of the faceplate, so they're totally invisible. These tiny buttons have to be operated via the braille system. If you wear polarized sunglasses, some displays become invisible because they are polarized 90° to your glasses. Now you have to **** your head to one side to see what you're listening to.

Good luck trying to change a radio station while underway. You have three menus for FM alone change the configuration of the buttons - and you have to remember where you put NPR on which menu selection. There's a local smooth jazz station that I've lost altogether.

Finally a word about control logic. In the late '70's the old Bell Telephone system came up with "Centrex", a computer system that allowed large businesses to put an amazing array of services on a standard touch-tone telephone. By pushing a sequence of buttons (like today's *69 that redials the last number to call you), you could transfer calls, access voice mail, get on the company-wide or department-wide paging system, redial number, and set up your own conference calls - all from a standard 12-button phone. I worked for a large publishing company at the time and we were one of the "guinea pigs" for its development.

NOBODY liked it. First, if you used it, you had to read through a list of some 28 functions to find the button sequence to punch in to intercom the guy in the next office. (Want to see the instructions for this exercise in frustration? http://www.bell.ca/media/en/all_regi...sUserGuide.pdf ) In our case, the central computer came with a pair of legs sticking out from under it. Yep, SW Bell even had an assigned space in the parking lot; a tech spent a minimum of six hours a day, every day, tinkering with the guts of the system. Of course, his efforts would screw up the system to the point that when you thought you were paging another office, you were put on the speakers throughout the building. "Hey Angie, could you come in here and look at this?" Yeah, it would get the whole building talking. In the name of "technology" some nerds decided to see how many things they could make a 12-button desk phone do. I fully expected *41 would pour my coffee.

For some reason, it seems this device started the race to see how many functions could be controlled by just a couple of buttons. I had an early digital watch (nerd toy) that not only told time in its tiny display, but was a stopwatch, calendar, and a countdown timer. That, I suppose, was valuable if you were launching a missile. The problem was that it was all controlled by three buttons, one of which had a single function to light the LCD display. The other two had to be pushed in arcane sequences top-top-bottom got you the calendar, bottom-top-bottom got got you the time, etc. Once in stopwatch mode the two buttons became start-stop and reset. To return to telling local time you had to push both buttons and hold them for three seconds. This was cool, but so totally impractical I think I wore it for a week, at which point my wrist turned green. (The "gold" finish wasn't.)

Automotive controls have reached the same stage, more notable for the "gee-whiz" factor than practicality. My second RX had a sequence of buttons you could push on the Nav panel that would turn on the rear camera (a "test" protocol, they called it) and treat you to a large-screen view of the roadway ripping away from you at 70 mph. Of course you had to do the same little button-dance again if you turned off the ignition. Usually once was enough, unless you enjoy seeing the road approaching and departing simultaneously in your field of view and experiencing the onset of motion sickness.

My first couple of cars had a switch for headlights, instrument lights, wipers, a turn signal, an ignition key and horn. The radio had an off-on-volume ****, five mechanical station preset buttons and a vernier ****, and the single heater control was a **** that turned the fan on and controlled its speed. That was it. What I lacked in controls was compensated for with gauges. Fuel, ammeter, oil pressure, temperature, and a speedometer (OK, I went nuts and put a tach on the ancient 103 hp I-6 as though 4,000 R's was going to break something.)

The dance of the 24 buttons and a **** is often repeated on our entertainment systems, climate control, instrument displays, "preferences", memory, phone, and text displays. The Asian fascination with devising arcane button sequences to produce dozens of displays with only a couple of buttons reflects on our need for a video arcade on the dashboard. I'm waiting for my wrist to turn green.

T0ked

iTrader: (2)

Technology marches on and the large screen in inevitable, but I find touch screens difficult to use while driving. A controller, such as in BMW, MB, Lexus vehicles are more tolerable. There are some controls which I prefer a physical direct access button. My FJ cruiser has very old fashioned big ***** for the radio and HVAC systems and I think those are the bare minimum. My MB has the COMAND system and the HVAC system for the vents are buried under no less than 5 pushes and 3 clicks of the controller. It's refreshing when I can just twist the **** to direct airflow where I want in my FJ.

The dash of the GS pictured above seem like the perfect compromise of direct buttons and navigation screen. Touch screens, however, are a different story. Ever try to touch a specific part of a touch screen when driving over potholes and avoiding cabbies in NYC? LOL