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I prefer remote touch for two reasons:
- touch screen tend to get greasy due to the fingers, and tends to become non responsive to the touch.
- I prefer my screen to be further away from me so that I can see the screen at a glance, not having my eye to far from the road. Touch screen need to be close to be reachable, and causes too much of diversion from the road.
I find the remote touch more usable by setting the stickyness to the screen buttons at maximum.
I prefer remote touch for two reasons:
- touch screen tend to get greasy due to the fingers, and tends to become non responsive to the touch.
- I prefer my screen to be further away from me so that I can see the screen at a glance, not having my eye to far from the road. Touch screen need to be close to be reachable, and causes too much of diversion from the road.
I find the remote touch more usable by setting the stickyness to the screen buttons at maximum.
Security wise, I prefer remote touch.
This mirrors my opinion. Having used both and currently having both, I prefer the remote touch or other similar joystick type controller.
I prefer remote touch for two reasons:
- touch screen tend to get greasy due to the fingers, and tends to become non responsive to the touch.
- I prefer my screen to be further away from me so that I can see the screen at a glance, not having my eye to far from the road. Touch screen need to be close to be reachable, and causes too much of diversion from the road.
I find the remote touch more usable by setting the stickyness to the screen buttons at maximum.
Security wise, I prefer remote touch.
Too bad Lexus didn't copy Genesis or BMW with the touch screen/remote set up system.
although i've enjoyed touch screen, i agree that a good controller setup is preferable to have the screen further away. when i recently used the one in the new e-class it was pretty good although that screen is close.
I still own the e39 2003 M5. That car is from the mid late 90s build technology. The e60 2004+ was bleh. To be frank, most BMW drivers don't have high expectation on BMW'S NAV system. They were ruthlessly denounced for a clunky system back then. Anyway, the 4RX is a totally redesigned car in 2016, I had higher expectation from the Japanese which have a tech culture. Perhaps they lost their edge. A better comparison is the totallly redesign Volvo XC90 and S class bens with great touchscreen interface.
Japan is an industrial powerhouse. They lag horribly when it comes to software. They completely ignored and miss the mobile revolution. There is Sony, but...
I'm not sure what will happen with car infotainment user interface, whether it will be mechanical controls or touchscreen.
Though they say that history has a habit of repeating itself.
Back in 1997, Palm Pilot was one of the early pioneers of the pen stylus soft plastic resistive touchscreen.
By 2000, Microsoft released color LCD soft plastic resistive touchscreens with their Windows CE & Windows Mobile operating sytems OS eg Casio Cassiopeia & Toshiba e310 etc.
By around 2005, Blackberry really made a name for themselves by bringing back the mechanical push buttons.
However by 2007, Apple reinvigorated the touchscreen via the next generation finger controlled hard glass capacitive touch screens, to rid that damn pen stylus.
In the same year of 2007, Google Android also unveiled touchscreen software that by 2008 was used by the pioneering hardware of the HTC Dream & Samsung Galaxies.
Finger driven hard capacitive touch screens have not yet looked back since then.
In truth, both soft plastic resistive and hard glass capacitive touch screens can be controlled by pen stylus and/or the human fingers.
Traditional mechanical controls via buttons and dials versus touchscreens is one issue.
Generally speaking, mechanical controls can be used blindfolded, if space allows.
While touchscreens are great if there is inadequate space.
A motor vehicle dashboard is a rather controversial "gray" area, because it is not exactly as compact as a cell phone, but space is also not as abundant as a QWERTY keyboard!
The next issue is whether we go with Lexus 5-way joysticks, or the more sophisticated 7-way jog dials which can also rotate clockwise and anticlockwise - to scroll the cursor very quickly and efficiently, as used in BMW, Benz, Audi, and Hyundai Genesis etc.
Let's say we want to move from A1 to J4.
We could dial the jog dial repeatedly to reach column J and row 4 by conventional left to right and top to bottom zig zag.
That is: A1 to L1, then A2 to L2, then A3 to L3, and finally A4 to J4.
That's the long way around.
Alternatively, we could push the 7-way jog dial down three times to reach the fourth row, then rotate the rotary dial 9-clicks to reach the J column!
The rotary dial is good for moving many spaces at once.
Presently, if we push the current Lexus 5-way joystick to the right, we barely know if we will finish up at B1 or L1.
I'm exaggerating of course, but you know what I mean.
Presently, the Lexus joystick is simply not good at discerning between say - E1 and F1.
Then there's other issues like having a computer infotainment system directly on board the motor vehicle, as opposed to adding in Apple CarPlay and Android Auto software so that the cell phone can be connected to and amplified via car LCD and speakers - mainly to integrate cell phone to motor vehicle, and to reduce costs...
Some of JD Powers data is important. Car brands pay JD Power for the data, so right there it tells you that Lexus, Audi or whomever is wanting this data. Only Tesla does not care. Where I do have an issue with JD is that they are vague in their finding to the car buyers. I am sure Lexus has a detailed report of why their rating suffered. I would not be surprised if the rating is better next year, Lexus will take the data and provide better training when you the dealers deliver the cars in the areas that they are failing.
Some of JD Powers data is important. Car brands pay JD Power for the data, so right there it tells you that Lexus, Audi or whomever is wanting this data. Only Tesla does not care. Where I do have an issue with JD is that they are vague in their finding to the car buyers. I am sure Lexus has a detailed report of why their rating suffered. I would not be surprised if the rating is better next year, Lexus will take the data and provide better training when you the dealers deliver the cars in the areas that they are failing.
No offense, but what reliability source do you trust? You have criticized both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power, for various different reasons. Both may not be perfect and have some faults (of the two, I myself think CR is more accurate and reliable)....but I don't think there are any other organizations there, short of the government's NHTSA itself (which gets safety/reliability complaints, but does not actually rank manufacturers on them), that can give you a better past-record, or a better and reasonable indication of how reliable your new car is likely to be, than these two...especially CR.
No offense, but what reliability source do you trust? You have criticized both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power, for various different reasons. Both may not be perfect and have some faults (of the two, I myself think CR is more accurate and reliable)....but I don't think there are any other organizations there, short of the government's NHTSA itself (which gets safety/reliability complaints, but does not actually rank manufacturers on them), that can give you a better past-record, or a better and reasonable indication of how reliable your new car is likely to be, than these two...especially CR.
how about the entire internet as a reliability source? forums like these and others tell you more about reliability than any cheesy short term or subjective survey summary from some self-serving 'organizations'.
for smaller consumer products for example, i bet more people trust amazon reviews more than consumer reports now! yes they can be manipulated too, but amazon does at least show if they're actual purchasers, plus you can typically see fake reviews.
forums like these and others tell you more about reliability than any cheesy short term or subjective survey summary from some self-serving 'organizations'.
for smaller consumer products for example, i bet more people trust amazon reviews more than consumer reports now! yes they can be manipulated too, but amazon does at least show if they're actual purchasers, plus you can typically see fake reviews.
Well, that's one of the nice things about CR (perhaps less so with J.D. Power)......you generally don't get fake-reviews to start with.
how about the entire internet as a reliability source?
The Internet, as a whole (not necessarily with respectable forums like CL and Car Chat), would probably be among the last places I'd look for if I wanted good, reliable info from owners. Too many people in the system who either don't know what they are talking about, have it out for certain vehicles and manufacturers and can't (or won't) give a fair assessment, or, at the other extreme, think their favorite vehicles and manufacturers are Golden Cows and can do no wrong. Too many forums (fortunately, not this one) are basically a breeding-ground for those tossing barbs instead of good, constructive discussions.
So...in the end, to date, I still haven't found a better source than CL, though, of course, if one comes along, I'll be the first to admit it. CR, in my opinion, is good....but not infallible.
how about the entire internet as a reliability source? forums like these and others tell you more about reliability than any cheesy short term or subjective survey summary from some self-serving 'organizations'.
for smaller consumer products for example, i bet more people trust amazon reviews more than consumer reports now! yes they can be manipulated too, but amazon does at least show if they're actual purchasers, plus you can typically see fake reviews.
Not sure if I'd go quite that far, but I agree that user reviews are extremely valuable. I had my eyes set on this Sony TV until I read the user reviews (and mean score) on it. I've always had Sony TVs and I figured "they're all good, right?" Wrong, glad I avoided that one. I also place a lot of stock on any decent purchase into user reviews. It's easy enough to tell which ones are objective.
Not sure if I'd go quite that far, but I agree that user reviews are extremely valuable. I had my eyes set on this Sony TV until I read the user reviews (and mean score) on it. I've always had Sony TVs and I figured "they're all good, right?" Wrong, glad I avoided that one. I also place a lot of stock on any decent purchase into user reviews. It's easy enough to tell which ones are objective.
I've actually had two Sony TVs fail within 3-4 years of purchase over the past 7 years or so. One Sony replaced, then the replacement failed in exactly the same way. So, not gonna buy any more Sony TVs.
06-26-17, 04:41 AM
