Firmware 7.0 Beta Discussion

[garygid]

Basically, I feel that the flat look is functional, but uglier than necessary, and looks
like the screens produced on low budgets for low or mid-range vehicles.

One thing that attracted me to the Tesla was the excellent graphics used
on many of their screens. No need for a step backward, in my opinion.

A poor human factor of many of the Tesla MS screens is the use of low-contrast text
that is unnecessarily difficult to read (light grey on white, or worse).
If you are going to put the text there, please make it readable.

Also, the poor contrast used on the daytime Nav screen appears to
make many of the streets unnecessarily difficult to see. There is a useful
Brightness control for the 17" screen, but apparently no Contrast control.

But, thanks for a lot of good stuff, while carefully leaving room for improvements.

 

[Max*]

Do does anyone have 7.0 yet?

 

[atlg8or]

Thread has seemed to veer off of 7.0 beta discussion to general UX design... I suppose any topic to keep our minds occupied while waiting...

 

[Raffy.Roma]

Autopilot already working and ready for production?

Tesla Model S - Bosch Automated Driving - YouTube

 

[Cyclone]

For the Media App at least, I'm liking the flatter look that 6.2's.
Pic stolen from a Facebook post by someone else.

 

[eye.surgeon]

Maybe I'm not Johnny-Ives-sophisticated enough to appreciate how mimicking the buttons on a circa-1985 VHS player qualifies as a better media interface design than 6.2.

I also can't help mourn the loss of detailed information in the climate control button that now tells me nothing. I guess the old, informative one was too skeomorphic/actually informative. Having to push a button to access a sub-menu to see fan speed, A/C and recirc settings, is terrible design. I'm sorry, it just is. That's a BASIC function of the car that should be viewable immediately.

From what I've seen of 7.0, I hate the design. Look at how many different shades of gray there are in that media display. Change that picture to black and white, it would look almost the same. It's such a waste of a capable display.

Still love my car.

 

[Cyclone]

Maybe I'm not Johnny-Ives-sophisticated enough to appreciate how mimicking the buttons on a circa-1985 VHS player qualifies as a better media interface design than 6.2.

I also can't help mourn the loss of detailed information in the climate control button that now tells me nothing. I guess the old, informative one was too skeomorphic/actually informative.

Still love my car.

I was focusing only on the Media App. There, the buttons (IMO) are a bit overdone in 6.2. I wouldn't mind a button outline or even a drop shadow, but the "glass pearl" look is just over the top. Wouldn't bother me at all though if it stayed the same way it currently is forever.

 

[vdiv]

Limiting the informative content on the 17" MCU is just dumbfounding. Maybe Tesla can downgrade it to 7" and nothing will be lost.

I like the new buttons too. Where's the transport bar slider so one can scrub through their music?

 

[Knobby]

The media app uses half the 17" screen, so much wasted space. And sooooo gray.

 

[Todd Burch]

Where's the transport bar slider so one can scrub through their music?

It's playing a Slacker song--you can't scrub through a Slacker song.

 

[davidc18]

+1 to both

I agree with you completely. So why not have a dumbed down *cough* I mean, "simple" interface for those who want it and have a more detailed interface for those who appreciate a bit more detail about the car's parameters and other useful information. After all, isn't being able to customize the information you see one of the benefits of having a glass cockpit?

Especially considering the asinine way they have currently implemented the blind spot alerts (tinsy winsy gradient on the speedometer) and now the leaked v 7.0 screen captures, I hope this is not a trends with someone at Tesla pushing display interfaces with little basis on practical usefulness for someone actually driving a car.

Maybe they hired someone from Apple who is a great designer but this person has never really driven a car to realize the different information that is useful when driving a Model S. Whenever I drive a Model S, I find the energy meter almost as useful as the speedometer. I've always considered the current speedometer/energy meter interface to be brilliant and I hope they make it better than dismantle it. I suspect I am not alone.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Maybe I'm not Johnny-Ives-sophisticated enough to appreciate how mimicking the buttons on a circa-1985 VHS player qualifies as a better media interface design than 6.2.

If Johnny Ives designed it, it would just be:


Rewind Play/Pause Fast Forward Stop Favorite


With absolutely no indication that those were buttons. Just words.

And it's interesting to note that the updated icons/images they now have for the player (the VCR buttons) are *still* skeuomorphs! Just because they're gradients of gray and have no drop-shadows or outlines doesn't make it a "flat" design.

But I will agree, that those fake translucent glass buttons were over-the-top.

edit: I'd like to see something like this -- that gives some indication they are buttons and the "scope" of user interface of where clicking the button will work. There are no boundaries on the beta 7.0 image above.

 

[OrlandoKen]

Maybe I'm not Johnny-Ives-sophisticated enough to appreciate how mimicking the buttons on a circa-1985 VHS player qualifies as a better media interface design than 6.2.

I also can't help mourn the loss of detailed information in the climate control button that now tells me nothing. I guess the old, informative one was too skeomorphic/actually informative. Having to push a button to access a sub-menu to see fan speed, A/C and recirc settings, is terrible design. I'm sorry, it just is. That's a BASIC function of the car that should be viewable immediately.

From what I've seen of 7.0, I hate the design. Look at how many different shades of gray there are in that media display. Change that picture to black and white, it would look almost the same. It's such a waste of a capable display.

Still love my car.

I agree about Climate Control

 

[Stoneymonster]

Climate control is clearly off in the picture. Find one with it on before freaking out about the lack of indicators.

 

[wk057]

At this point I have only one real complaint about this update: My car doesn't have it yet.

 

[MsElectric]

Maybe I'm not Johnny-Ives-sophisticated enough to appreciate how mimicking the buttons on a circa-1985 VHS player qualifies as a better media interface design than 6.2.

I also can't help mourn the loss of detailed information in the climate control button that now tells me nothing. I guess the old, informative one was too skeomorphic/actually informative. Having to push a button to access a sub-menu to see fan speed, A/C and recirc settings, is terrible design. I'm sorry, it just is. That's a BASIC function of the car that should be viewable immediately.

From what I've seen of 7.0, I hate the design. Look at how many different shades of gray there are in that media display. Change that picture to black and white, it would look almost the same. It's such a waste of a capable display.

Still love my car.

Maybe they hired the guy who designed the Fisker Karma user interface to design some of the 7.0 user interface elements Pay particular attention to the reviewer talking about how horrible it is to have UI elements in shades of gray with challenging the lighting conditions, sunlight, and glare you find in a car... Of course I am sure whatever they do for the 7.0 interface will be better than the mess depicted on the video below but I think the comments about UI elements being in shades of gray (white on white/gray on gray) is relevant.

 

[jkliu47]

Watching that video gives me a headache. I really feel for any Fisker Karma owner. Like he says - 'what a mess'!

 

[wayner]

It's playing a Slacker song--you can't scrub through a Slacker song.

Why not? The car caches the entire song in a few seconds, it doesn't stream it in real-time. And even if it did stream it in real-time you could still scrub, as you can in Netflix videos.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I like the new buttons too. Where's the transport bar slider so one can scrub through their music?

You're expecting way too much. It's taken Tesla the better portion of the last year to update the UI skin and to downgrade the user experience. They'll need at least another 2-3 years before they can give you a media app that is on par with your 2009 Windows box. But I digress. In about 30 seconds other forum members will descend upon me and lecture about how the media app and all other user experiences are completely irrelevant because Tesla needs to focus on Model X, or Model 3, or a unicorn.

 

[rickgt]

Agree completely...

Maybe I'm not Johnny-Ives-sophisticated enough to appreciate how mimicking the buttons on a circa-1985 VHS player qualifies as a better media interface design than 6.2.

I also can't help mourn the loss of detailed information in the climate control button that now tells me nothing. I guess the old, informative one was too skeomorphic/actually informative. Having to push a button to access a sub-menu to see fan speed, A/C and recirc settings, is terrible design. I'm sorry, it just is. That's a BASIC function of the car that should be viewable immediately.

From what I've seen of 7.0, I hate the design. Look at how many different shades of gray there are in that media display. Change that picture to black and white, it would look almost the same. It's such a waste of a capable display.

Still love my car.