Tesla Owners, Let's Talk: Touchscreen vs. Physical Buttons - What's Your Take?

[Gatordawg]

I think there might be something wrong with me, but i read this entire thread.
I'm not a button person but my wife is, so I say let the button people have there button.
The voice command works great for me, but it can't understand a single word my wife's saying.
I live in a town that is in competition with the next town over as to who can build the most roundaboots. People drive through them in one blink of a turning single.
AI is everywhere, even when it's not.
Looking forward to the future thread about touchscreens vs neuralink, which is better.

 

[Gumball]

8 pages, and a topic starter that never returned. You gotta love the interwebs.

 

[tangible1]

You’ll note I posted a long list of reasons why voice commands cannot be considered a substitute for a good interface. They can supplement but not substitute and never make up for a bad interface.

no argument to substitutes, but User Interfaces are a moving target as technologies and functions evolve.
the inclusion of voice as an interface can offer benefits.

and good design, without stating criteria, is another subjective minefield.
which makes it perfect for conjecture on blogs.

 

[zroger73]

8 pages, and a topic starter that never returned. You gotta love the interwebs.

A forum like this that relies on advertising revenue would love for every thread to have as many views and replies as this one. Looks like a success to me!

Reminds me of those billboards I occasionally see on the side of the highway that read, "Does advertising work? Just did! Call 1-800-555-1212 to have your ad appear here."

 

[Calliope]

I'd never driven a roundabout until I rented a car for a road trip in New Zealand, but now I see them popping up here in more and more places. I love them.

 

[SilentMike]

I don't mind how a thread like this gets started, it's great reading, thanks!

My MY is still fairly new to me, no opinion yet about screen vs buttons but I will say that most of my problems have been because I hadn't learned how to find the right way to operate certain functions which lead to some worrying moments. Voice commands take learning too (once I tried to play one of my songs and the nav system rerouted me to home!). I do think it's concerning to have had the car for three months and to still be RESEARCHING things like: how to answer my phone using the steering wheel buttons (found out today!).

I am curious though.. one of the stalk functions that I would be happy to see on the screen is Drive/Reverse function. I can't think of a time when I wasn't either moving slowly or stopped when I needed it. I'm not sure what I would replace the stalk switch with at that point (perhaps 'restore the last music that I was playing on my USB drive when I got out of the car'! - we don't have internet until 20mins from the house).

 

[SilentMike]

Okay, since my last post I have decided that I am on the side of LIKING the screen interface but the real problem is that the screen commands often require a fairly precise stabbing at some fairly tiny buttons, TWICE. Take the Rear window defroster for example.. I like that it is available when I press the climate area of the screen and as an option when I press the (totally unrelated) app. icon, but for either I have to first find the correct menu, then find the correct icon which means my eyes could be off the screen for a second or two (and on a bumpy road a lot longer!). Sure, I can customise the left steering wheel buttons but there are several commands competing for that privilege, like the wipers for example!!

Here are the things I would like, to make the UI better..
1) A large, user customisable, pop-up menu (covering most of the middle of the screen) in which I can adjust the size, colour, icon and position of the commands that I want easy access to.
2) I want the menu to pop up by pressing a steering wheel button (eliminates one button press with my eyes off the road).
3) I want that menu to pop up for, say, 3-5 seconds (customisable).

I'm imagining about a dozen LARGE control buttons and perhaps a few phone buttons for the few people that I call a lot (perhaps with the same photos I have in my phone contacts ).

None of this would require a hardware change to the car and would certainly make me a safer driver.

(Perhaps Tesla could provide a default pop-up menu for the more standard things to start with).

..and one extra thing.. while I'm wishing.. I'd like the phone call pop-up to appear MUCH bigger and in the middle of the screen.

 

[father_of_6]

Take the Rear window defroster for example

Add it to the bottom bar.

 

[SilentMike]

Add it to the bottom bar

I could but there are more things I'd like to make easily available than there are places for them and one of my points is that I'd like the buttons bigger. We all have different needs, I think we should be able to do whatever we want, within reason (some people think it's good to make the car fart!).

 

[gtae07]

Qe see a lot more roundabouts here in Georgia too, and mostly they work well... except for one place where they used them at an interstate exit. And that isn't even the problem; it's that there's a big distribution center right there and a bunch of trucks dump out. They don't negotiate the roundabout very well and thus hold everyone up.

Add it to the bottom bar.

It's full... need more spots...


Really I'd rather the TAAC/AP and cancel functions not share a control with the gearshift. They ought to be buttons on the wheel, leave the stalk for gears and put a wiper dial on it. Keep the turn signal stalk.

 

[laservet]

"People want physical buttons, nobody wants to just use the screen" said luddites when the iPhone was introduced.

 

[tangible1]

"People want physical buttons, nobody wants to just use the screen" said luddites when the iPhone was introduced.

actually, early iterations of iPhone touchscreens had many issues with sensitivity and inadvertent activation.
they did not work as well as hyped, but became better over time.
not really luddites except as declared by lesser experienced users

 

[zroger73]

"People want physical buttons, nobody wants to just use the screen" said luddites when the iPhone was introduced.

New Physical Keyboard Case Brings iPhones Back to BlackBerry's Glory Days

The Clicks for iPhone keyboard case has a hardware keyboard and will make its debut at CES 2024. It's made by a couple of YouTubers and a new company.

www.cnet.com

 

[father_of_6]

And yet, some people still want their buttons back:

Edit: Oops, I had a stale page already loaded and didn't see @zroger73's post.

 

[sleepydoc]

"People want physical buttons, nobody wants to just use the screen" said luddites when the iPhone was introduced.

Except you’re not using an iphone while driving a 5000 lb rocket at 60 MPH dealing with merging traffic and trying to get the damned defroster to turn on so the windshield doesn’t fog up.

Not sure why wanting something that works well for its intended use makes people luddites. It seems that labeling them luddites because they have a rational argument with which you disagree makes you more of a fanboy sycophant.

 

[zoomer0056]

It seems that labeling them luddites because they have a rational argument with which you disagree makes you more of a fanboy sycophant.

I believe the point is that those people are no longer complaining, rationally or not, because that tech is now the norm.

 

[father_of_6]

Except you’re not using an iphone while driving a 5000 lb rocket at 60 MPH dealing with merging traffic and trying to get the damned defroster to turn on so the windshield doesn’t fog up.

Speak for yourself.

 

[smogne41]

"People want physical buttons, nobody wants to just use the screen" said luddites when the iPhone was introduced.

Yet laptops with physics buttons have not been displaced by tablets, despite all the 2011 tech industry analysts predictions. Almost like physical buttons are better for some things. Crazy.

 

[Calliope]

"People want physical buttons, nobody wants to just use the screen" said luddites when the iPhone was introduced.

Maybe, but that has nothing to do with touchscreens in cars.........using an iPhone is not the same as driving a 2 ton vehicle at 70 miles an hour on a crowded highway. Tablets haven't replaced laptops (let alone desktops). I'm sure I can come up with other examples where one size does not fit all.

 

[laservet]

Except you’re not using an iphone while driving a 5000 lb rocket at 60 MPH dealing with merging traffic and trying to get the damned defroster to turn on so the windshield doesn’t fog up.

Zoomer0056 gets it.

In the scenario you describe, I accomplish that without taking my hand off the steering wheel by pressing the right scroll wheel and saying, “Turn on defroster.” Why in the world would I want to take my hand off the wheel, lean over and reach out for a button, taking my eyes briefly off the road, to accomplish the same end but less safely?