How satisfied are you with the non-AP (Classic) V7.0

[apacheguy]

I voted neutral.

After all the complaining about the User Interface even before the firmware was released, I was relieved that the look, feel and use wasn't worse than it is.

As others have stated I find the reversal of the range meter with the odometer reading to be a definite step backwards. For me the most frequently accessed data is the range. It was correct to have it front and center in a large prominent location, not relegated to a tiny portion off to the bottom left. In fact, I would like the Projected Range from the Energy application added to the dashboard screen. One way to do this would be to add it to the right of the thumbnail version of the Energy screen.

In contrast odometer readings are only infrequently referred to and shouldn't be in such a prominent location.

Like others I appreciate the new lock/unlock icon, but I agree with AmpedRealtor's suggestion that a park button toggle between open and lock would have been more intuitive and easier to use.

I appreciate the larger media buttons in concept, but find that they are not aesthetically balanced with the remainder of the media display.

I found the placement of the date, day, time temperature, and mileage at the bottom of the dashboard display to be vastly more compact and appropriate than an oversized analog clock with only two pieces of information.

All in all, I am merely satisfied, but not impressed with the User Interface changes and hope that 7.1 will be a more thoughtful implementation for the Classic owners.

Larry

PS I am very pleased with the fact that the RWD fleet was thrown a bone by slightly improving the efficiency in version 7.0.

+1, well said. In all the criticism of the 7.0 UI it's easy to lose sight of the progress they made from the first beta. There are some positive aspects of 7.0 (like preserving the power gauge) that were not present from the start.

However, I voted "Unsatisfied" for the very reasons emphasized above (in bold) in your post and will not be updating until these are addressed in 7.1.

 

[snellenr]

I posted about this as soon as I received the update. All the red is the same color, no discernible difference. Also the brake lights appear to be a 1-pixel thin strip at best. This is not helpful at all. It does nothing but make me wonder who at Tesla is making these bad decisions. Elon said version 7 has been a year in the making, and this is what we get? AFTER A WHOLE YEAR?

It's like an intern just resized a car image in Photoshop and didn't pay any attention to whether it was actually usable.

After driving around with it a little more, I found that the third brake light indicator (above the rear window on the matchbox car) was easier to see than the brake lights themselves -- the dark back window below makes it easier to orient/locate visually than the lower brake lights.

In the absence of a fix, I may ask my optometrist whether he can grind/glue a magnifier lens on the center of my bifocal lens...

 

[invisik]

So little has changed for Manual Pilot cars, it's kind of a non event. UI interface bits are rearranged and tweaked a little.... That's about it. I'd call it a 6.3 instead of 7.0 (unless there's major under the hood stuff that's changed, but it doesn't sound like it). Yeah, maybe 7.1 will have the test of the stuff 7.0 was rumored to come with...


-m

 

[supratachophobia]

So little has changed for Manual Pilot cars, it's kind of a non event. UI interface bits are rearranged and tweaked a little.... That's about it. I'd call it a 6.3 instead of 7.0 (unless there's major under the hood stuff that's changed, but it doesn't sound like it). Yeah, maybe 7.1 will have the test of the stuff 7.0 was rumored to come with...


-m

I agree. Even two of the coolest non-autopilot features we missed out on; speed boost for 85kw and TPMS monitoring. And I'd rather have the choice to configure the dash with widgets. The car avatar in the middle is useless when driving. The power/mileage remaining should come back, or give the user a choice on which item to put in there, or have the option to go back to "classic" center stack.

I will say that the skin overall seems to have a good sharp feel and I like the darker undertone for night driving. I'd still like to turn off the center screen completely but it is an improvement if you turn the brightness all the way down to help not destroy your night vision. I don't know if anyone noticed, but the media app did have one improvement (it needs a ton more mind you). If you do the the media app full screen, you can get the directory listing at the bottom instead of blank space.

What I'm really surprised about is something that was brought up when we were all speculating. And that is, you would think that the concerns about the new look in feel would have been brought up during EAP/beta testing and a different direction taken for hot-button items. I don't know exactly what the back and forth was, but based on the end results, I would say that EAP/beta tester feedback might mean less than we all hope it means.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I don't know exactly what the back and forth was, but based on the end results, I would say that EAP/beta tester feedback might mean less than we all hope it means.

This is entirely my conjecture, but I would render a guess that a number of beta testers (and I would guess a majority seeing how 7.0 came out) are afraid to be highly critical of Tesla for fear of getting bounced out of the early access program. Which is exactly NOT what you want beta testers to be.

 

[Atebit]

You've just been Continuously Inconvinienced I mean Improved!

Don't worry, you'll quickly get used to the way they want your dash to look. Actually, it's their dash; you're just licensed to use it. What you actually paid for was just the device used to display their dash.

 

[Nikxice]

As others have previously suggested, I'd also prefer to have the odometer/range meter flipped. I do like the car avatar. With the need to incorporate the car image on the dash of the AP vehicles, I doubt Tesla would scrap it just for RWD owners that don't want it. Perhaps it could use some tweaking to provide more useful information. Lighting brightness, some colors, and other features will likely be enhanced with future releases. I've always believed it is important for operators to know if they are communicating with the vehicles in their rear zone. With this release we no longer have to guess if our brake lights are illuminating during regen. Added safety and confidence when slowing down and checking the rear view mirror.

 

[Cyclone]

I think the IC car should tune down its headlights, especially when driving at night. I also think it should be a generic dark gray Model S (for visibility), but that wouldn't jive with the AP cars. A few other small tweaks as well as swapping odo vs. range and the HVAC display (leave flat, but make it into rich with the fan speed and recirc state). Oh, and revert the energy meter to 6.2.

 

[supratachophobia]

This is entirely my conjecture, but I would render a guess that a number of beta testers (and I would guess a majority seeing how 7.0 came out) are afraid to be highly critical of Tesla for fear of getting bounced out of the early access program. Which is exactly NOT what you want beta testers to be.

Wow, that's an even better theory; and I think you may be onto something. I wonder if any EAP owners would consider piping up with their level of fear? On a scale 1-7. How do you make a pole?

 

[Ben W]

After a day of driving with v7.0, I voted neutral. Some aspects I like (more streamlined look for the UI overall), and some not so much:

- I agree with most of you that the battery belongs front and center, not the odometer. Until superchargers become as common as gas stations, the battery level is far more significant.

- I miss the temperature readout. In So. Cal, I often use it to calibrate what I'm doing with A/C, opening windows, etc. Moving it to the clock app was a bizarre design decision.

- I miss the always-there digital clock, too. The new analog clock is just plain ridiculous. Elon has no standing to bash the Apple Watch while this monstrosity exists.

- The skeumorphic car on the speedometer has potential, but could be a lot better. Headlight splash is way too bright (and it doesn't even show brights for that matter), and brake lights are nearly invisible, especially on my red car. My suggestion would be to tilt the car more orthogonally so you can actually see the headlights, and light those up strongly when the lights are on, rather than show the indirect light splash it does now. Of course, red pixels can only get so bright, but hey, that's what lens flare is for! (Subtle though, not JJ Abrams style.)

- I miss the old trip meter. The new data (current trip since car was last turned on) is useful, but the icons are redundant and hog up space. I do wish it also showed A/B, which there is plenty of room for. I had had a little game going with myself to see how fast I could reduce the lifetime Wh/mi (on Trip B) from its current 352, after 33k miles, down to 350. Now I have to go digging through the touchscreen settings to find the trip meters. Is there any other car out there that doesn't show the trip meters on the driver dash??

- New lock toggle on the touchscreen is useful, though I agree with AmpedRealtor that the parking stalk would be the best place for it. There can actually be both; the icon on the touchscreen can show the lock state as it's toggled from the stalk.

- Apparently my car (RWD P85) now has Torque Sleep, and (happily) I didn't notice any difference while driving/stopping/starting. We'll see over the long run whether the efficiency really improves.

- I had expected the bright blue/green/orange speedometer indicators to be sleekened up a bit in this new UI, and found myself a teensy bit disappointed that they remained as garish as before. Maybe there will be a change with v7.1.

I'm sort of happy not to be a guinea pig with the Autopilot, and frankly dreading the first few accident reports that people will (inevitably wrongly) try to blame on it. I'm still blissfully happy with my Sig P85, and although Tesla keeps sending me emails encouraging me to trade up for the latest and greatest, there are two main reasons I'm holding out:

1: Waiting for next-gen autopilot hardware with rear-facing radar (so the car can merge safely on its own, critical for onramp-to-offramp autonomy)
2: I like my Signature Red!!

-Ben

 

[bob_p]

Installed 7.0 on my early VIN P85, and after reading all of the comments on the forums, was prepared for a leap backward in the user interface.

However, after using it for several hours yesterday, overall, it is an improvement. Ignoring the flat vs. 3D, the layout is significantly better. They eliminated the frames around the windows in the main display - which seemed to be an attempt to match the frame for the 17" display. And they eliminated the rounded status boxes the filled the top and bottom of the dashboard. Both of these were unnecessary, used up valuable display space, and actually degraded the perception of both displays.

The new interface seems to have better contrast - many of the elements seems to be crisper and easier to read. And, with the map displays, they have the map displayed in the background on both the dashboard and console so that the map is visible underneath other objects being displayed.

Since I have a non-AP, early model, P85, I still have the original speedometer, with the small car display replacing the battery. I don't mind moving the battery display to the lower left - though the small car really displays little valuable information. While it's cute that you can (almost) see the brake lights and the headlights - that's really not very useful. The brake lights are harder to see - and if they really want to continue with this, would probably have to make them more visible - plus, there should be an indication of when the bright headlights are enabled.

However, I'd rather they use this area for something more interesting. For example, something that would be extremely useful - and is still missing is an indication of the air suspension status - I would like to know when the air suspension is low and when it's being changed automatically - without having to bring up the air suspension display on the console.

The new trip display isn't particularly useful. Like the new clock, both of these display relatively little information. What would be better would be a status display that could show digital time and outside temperature, the current trip usage information and along the bottom of the window the energy usage display. All of this should be able to fit into the area on either side of the speedometer.

The biggest disappointment is how little has been done to provide any real improvement in functionality. While I believe the new UI does look better, it really doesn't provide much additional information, and what I am still waiting to see is new features - that should have been in the software by now. Items such as playlists for media playback, improvements in the navigation software, providing a display of the speed limit using the map database for earlier model cars, the app store with 3rd party apps, ... The navigation software still underperforms especially with the constant access to the Internet - features that would be extremely useful include real-time updates on upcoming traffic issues, waypoints, customization of the planned route, information on upcoming POIs (restaurants, shopping, ...).

And the software still appears to have some of the same problems that were there with version 6. The album art still doesn't display reliably. In the turn list for the navigation software, it doesn't provide the correct name for the upcoming turns (such as exit names from highways). And the navigation software still thinks it takes 5 minutes to drive the last few houses on my street to get to my house.

Yes, getting the AP working is important, as is continuing to push the envelope on a self-driving car. But there will be increasing disappointment with the onboard software if Tesla doesn't start investing more in providing more complete implementations of the software after it's been released. Other cars are getting the Apple and Android integration - in the Model S, we still don't have integrated text messaging...

Hopefully now that V7 has been released - Tesla will invest resources not only to refine and improve the latest UI - but also to address the long-missing features from the rest of the software...

 

[ToddRLockwood]

The most useful improvement I've noticed so far is the Media Player FULL SCREEN MODE, which allows you to view your list of favorites at the same time as the media player controls. This is a much better arrangement for driver safety. The former arrangement required taking your eyes off the road for too long when selecting a different favorite.

 

[smil3193]

I'm not that concerned with the look; I like some of the changes, don't like others. But what is most important is that I can see the information provided on the instrument cluster and this update has made that more difficult for me. There is less contrast on the speedometer/energy circle. Also less contrast on the daytime navigation map to the left, it almost looks like the old nighttime view. Both of these changes make it harder for me to see the info, especially when wearing sunglasses. And at night, I found the brightness of the center car icon created glare that made it harder to see outside. Maybe this is worse since my car is white. But last night driving for about 1.5 hours on the highway I found it easier to see after I covered the center display with a napkin. I was using cruise control so didn't really need to see the speedo but still, not a great thing to do. If this doesn't change I may need to improvise some sort of screen to cover it during night driving.

In general, I agree that this UI update seems mainly change for change's sake. I do like the current trip elapsed time data, I like seeing when the brake lights come on (except it's pretty hard to see) but I miss the at-a-glance digital clock, temperature and day date in front of me and also preferred the charge status front and center. I'm trying to not be negative but if I had the choice, I would go back to the previous UI.

 

[bareyb]

I like the functionality of the new Apps, but I'm not that excited about the new flat look. I am hoping future updates will improve the look of the Clock. It's pretty sparse right now. Love the elapsed time on the Trip meter. Used to love having that in my old Lexus. As for the car, I have a P85 so I'm very happy with the performance. I expect I'll wait another year before I consider trading it in and see what other must have features come out in that time.

 

[artsci]

In general I like it and think it's an improvement. But a few details are pretty dreadful -- the analog clock design for example.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

I am curious if it is faster/ quicker? Maybe I am just driving a lot better with my new tires. Kicked butt in autocross this weekend. Top street tire time. Beat an evo9 and 2jz swap supra w/550 hp. 1.5s faster than Cts-v! Wohoo

I think the 7.0 balances improvements and negative changes pretty well.

 

[kort677]

In general I like it and think it's an improvement. But a few details are pretty dreadful -- the analog clock design for example.

about the new analog clock the big question I have is WHY?

 

[freeewilly]

Wow. For people comfortable with being earlier adopters in the EV world, I'm surprised at all the griping over little changes in the display.

Totally agree.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

My biggest complaint is the new update knocked out my heater. I had it cranked today and it wouldn't work - I've rebooted and even tried it in my wifes P85 and hers isn't working either. Not sure how a minor graphical update hosed the heater????

I like the new UI, however I would prefer a theme based system that I could download as an App. If I want a James Bond theme - I download that , if I want a Back to the Future theme, I download that. If I want the classic Tesla App I download that, if I want a Star Wars theme....you get the point.

Will call the boys at Tysons tomorrow to schedule an appointment for both cars...

Other complaint is I don't like the UI headlights on blinding me from the dash board. That sucks, I would prefer a mini-backup camera view there...

 

[Larry Chanin]

about the new analog clock the big question I have is WHY?

Apparently now its the only way to get the time and temperature on the dashboard display, at the expense of valuable display real estate.

Larry