I installed the update today. Initially I thought I would hold off on this update, as the most important part of the interface to me, the power meter, appeared to be useless, but that isn't the case -- it is still there and functional, with essentially the same center speedometer display.
The 17inch screen is improved, particularly the nav screen. Seems like it gained half inch on each side from eliminating the non-functional, faux-chrome borders. Looks really sharp. The top control bar of the nav window is transparent as well, which makes the screen feel even larger. The controls screen, and its tabs open noticeably more quickly. I don't like the new blue color used for night mode buttons -- the old blue was brighter and popped more, but not a big deal.
The top row of icons (Lock Button, Temp, Charging Screen, Homelink, Profiles, etc.) now looks consistent with just solid white simple icons. Lock button is a nice addition. The battery icon up there always kinda bugged me. It was too small to be useful, so I don't miss it at all, and it didn't fit with the rest of the icons. I expect it freed up some memory and cpu to change that icon to a static one.
Next is the app row. The new icons look better, less cheesy clipart style, and they have eliminated the non-functional faux-chrome border/shelf they sat in, which makes that part of the screen take up a lot less room. Also got rid of the text below each app. More room for the main screens.
The big problem with those two top rows is that the background is always black! Looks like it is in night mode all the time, doesn't fit in day mode at all. Plus the black background behind the apps shows fingerprints more consistently than a grey background would. At least they could have made it change colors like the bottom control row does between night and day mode. Really weird that every other part of the screen changes between modes, except that part. Bugs me a bit.
The bottom row of controls and climate control volume looks less refined than the rest of the new graphics. Not thrilled with that design, but at least it changes colors in day/night mode unlike the top part of the screen. The fan icon no longer shows the fan speed, and HVAC and Re-circulation are no longer displayed without opening the climate controls. I expect this was done for the same reason as the battery icon -- the little fan icon was small and hard to see, and eliminating those extra bits of animation saved memory and cpu. I feel like the main climate on/off button is slightly larger which makes it easier to press.
The instrument cluster is a mixed bag. Not sure the value of the car graphic in the middle. I can see the car's lights but that is it. I expected to see the doors open when I opened my door. Inconsistent that it displays some car status info (lights) but not other (doors/roof).
Odometer front is center in the power/speedo is like other cars, but I don't think that is needed. Can't think of a functional reason for that to be the location of odometer, other than familiarity with other cars(bad reason IMO). Odometer isn't really critical info, and shouldn't be displayed so prominently. Would much rather have a battery bar/range remaining display there. Odd decision to flip those two. I guess for most people they drive their 40 or so miles per day, and never need to look at the battery icon, so it isn't super critical for most situations. When it is important however, it is possibly the most important piece of data to display. For that reason I think it would be better in the center, and 2x as large as the new icon, for more detail (as it was before). Again, it is like other cars to have the fuel gauge outside of the speedo, but I don't see a reason to do that other than familiarity.
I miss the temp and time from the instrument cluster. Now I have to look further away (at the 17 inch screen) for that info. Which means my eyes are off the road for longer. Seems like they tried to maximize eye-on-road time, and eliminate non-essential info, but in their de-cluttering-things-that-weren't-cluttered, they had the opposite effect.
The new trip meter is nice. It has a real trip meter now, with timer, which is something I've wanted since I got the car. Between that and Since Last Charge displays I have all the info I need to accurately monitor my energy usage. The text is slightly larger and easier to read than the old trip meter. I feel like the windy road, clock and graph icons in the trip meter are unnecessary, as the numbers are labeled clearly. Remove those 3 icons, and there would be enough space for the A and B trip meters to return.
The energy app looks the worst of the IC displays. The large differently colored rectangle of the graph really standouts out in a bad way, especially when the rest of the new UI is so clean looking. It is nice they upped the size of the font for the average energy usage though.
Overall, this is the first update I feel like I lost some stuff. All other updates were just good additions. (Didn't feel this way about losing low suspension setting as that had a reason behind it.)
This v7 UI is dumb. Just plain dumb. White blob in the middle of the panel at night. Developer turnover must be a problem.
