Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles • Hacker News Board

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#611

Post by magduf » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

galangalalgol wrote: post #569

justin66 wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We know that iPhone enjoys a minority of smartphone market share, and we know that Lexus is the luxury brand and Toyota is the everyday brand. One assumes iPhone will be overrepresented among Lexus buyers and underrepresented among Toyota buyers. Therefore it would make very little sense for the Toyota brand to abandon Android users in favor of iOS users in the design of its dashboard systems.

I wasn't suggesting they ditch android auto, but literally everyone but Mazda and Toyota have carplay as an option. Even Kia and Hyundai. Chevy,GMC,ford,Dodge, Chrysler,jeep,Fiat,Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi. All have carplay. Mazda is going simple, which I respect. I drive a Miata pre touchscreen and I use a $50 Android phone. But to have a touchscreen an not have android auto and carplay? Why?

Current Mazdas have CarPlay and Android Auto.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#612

Post by chipotle_coyote » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:53 PM UTC

coryfklein wrote: post #525

namdnay wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a huge fan of Carplay. Instead of having to listen to FM radio or fiddle with a phone screen on a silly dashboard sticker things, I get a massive screen with my phone on it. I can listen to podcasts and Spotify, follow Waze, dictate messages, all without fiddling

Maybe I don't switch back and forth between stuff while I'm driving as much as you do? I set everything up before I need to focus on the road, and then I just drive. If I need to change to a different playlist, or switch from music to the news, I pull over , make the switch, then start driving again. If CarPlay makes it more tempting or productive for me to do non-driving things while I am driving , then it is not a…

If you have a smartphone, it can be tempting or "productive" (the air quotes are probably reasonable!) to do non-driving things while you're driving, if you're the sort of person who's tempted to do that when you have a smartphone available. I think this is largely orthogonal to whether or not you have CarPlay.

I'm guilty of being that sort of person occasionally. I've found that having CarPlay in my new car reduces the temptation to do "non-driving things," because the things that I do that are related to driving -- navigation apps, streaming music, and for me, playing podcasts -- become easier to do with CarPlay's UX than with just using the phone in a holder like I did in my last car. The screen in my car is much bigger, the touch targets are bigger, the UI is simplified, the design encourages me to use voice input. (In your example of changing to a different playlist, I can just press the Siri button -- which perhaps amusingly in this discussion, is a physical button on my Insight's steering wheel! -- and say "Play [name of playlist].")

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#613

Post by coryfklein » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:53 PM UTC

magduf wrote: post #608

coryfklein wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I don't switch back and forth between stuff while I'm driving as much as you do? I set everything up before I need to focus on the road, and then I just drive. If I need to change to a different playlist, or switch from music to the news, I pull over , make the switch, then start driving again. If CarPlay makes it more tempting or productive for me to do non-driving things while I am driving , then it is not a…

It's generally illegal to pull over on an interstate highway unless you have a true emergency. Pulling over in traffic, and then accelerating and merging again (in the absence of an actual acceleration lane as with on/off ramps) is dangerous.

Yes. In this case, if changing my audio source right at that time is that important, I'll get off on an exit. But I don't think that has ever happened to me.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#614

Post by naikrovek » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:54 PM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #275

Shivetya wrote: post #182

Well after owning a Tesla Model 3 I am of the opinion, why in the hell do we need forty plus buttons in cars? Seriously! (Go count your buttons, some cars are higher than that) First off with regards to the touch screen in the Tesla. In the vast majority of drives I never ever touch it. Not once. Why not? Well I have my temperature preference set, I usually play the music that is coming off my phone, and well, what e…

> First off with regards to the touch screen in the Tesla. In the vast majority of drives I never ever touch it. Not once. Why not? Well I have my temperature preference set, I usually play the music that is coming off my phone, and well, what else do I need to adjust in my car? I can do music volume, do next or previous song, and pause music, from the left steering wheel button. Wipers and headlamps are automatic. N…

> UI should be made for people who adjust their settings, though.

I would rephrase to "UI should be made for users who interface with them", and I could not agree more with your response.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#615

Post by stinky613 » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:54 PM UTC

kevinconroy wrote: post #355

zaroth wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet, every single phone today is nothing but a “picture under glass” and, far from a paradigm of permanent numbness, humans are intimately connected to these devices they carry with them everywhere. Rant is the right way to describe this. Do you remember the first time you used a map on a smooth multi-touch screen? The joy of panning and zooming around, tapping to learn more about any particular point! I remember…

Even if it's a rant, it doesn't mean it's wrong. At CES a decade ago, I got to play with a touchscreen prototype that offered tactile feedback. Press a button and the screen would push back and/or buzz (it's been a while, hard to remember). What I do know is that it _felt_ like I was pushing on something, not just glass. At the time, it required a big area around it. Think ATM sized. For an ATM, it'd be awesome. I'd…

Audi has this kind of feedback on their newer touchscreens

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#616

Post by 0xffff2 » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:55 PM UTC

coryfklein wrote: post #525

namdnay wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a huge fan of Carplay. Instead of having to listen to FM radio or fiddle with a phone screen on a silly dashboard sticker things, I get a massive screen with my phone on it. I can listen to podcasts and Spotify, follow Waze, dictate messages, all without fiddling

Maybe I don't switch back and forth between stuff while I'm driving as much as you do? I set everything up before I need to focus on the road, and then I just drive. If I need to change to a different playlist, or switch from music to the news, I pull over , make the switch, then start driving again. If CarPlay makes it more tempting or productive for me to do non-driving things while I am driving , then it is not a…

>If I need to change to a different playlist, or switch from music to the news, I pull over, make the switch, then start driving again.

I'm pretty sure that puts you somewhere near the top 0.0000001% of cautious drivers.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#617

Post by alistairSH » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:56 PM UTC

ConceptJunkie wrote: post #593

alistairSH wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own two cars with CarPlay, one use a touchscreen (VW) and the other a rotary knob/button (BMW). I much prefer the knob - with the touchscreen, I have to focus on the screen for a longer period of time to make sure my finger hits the right spot. With the rotary knob, I still have to glance over, but only enough to ensure the correct "button" is highlighted. That feels less distracting to me. All that said, I try to…

If you want choice and flexibility, don't live in a walled garden.

But it's such a well-manicured, aromatic walled garden!

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#618

Post by DonaldDerek » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:58 PM UTC

... well i hope this'll ripple to other domains. The renaissance of modular synthesizers is highly noticeable in today's music making, and especially live performances, well a car is very similar to a sonic vehicle in that sense.

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#619

Post by chipotle_coyote » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 4:59 PM UTC

inetknght wrote: post #438

ken wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CarPlay is amazingly good As someone who recently rode in a car with CarPlay and saw two young technology professionals try to use it, I disagree. One of them owned the system and drove it every day it still didn't seem like either one really understood it ("Why's it doing that?" "Maybe because ..."). I agree that all the built-in systems I've seen are terrible, but CarPlay seems like merely the "least bad" impleme…

> "Here's my 2006 iPod if you want music, or unplug it and plug in your phone if you want" Well, your 2006 iPod still uses a 3.5mm analog port. But that newfangled phone over there needs a new $400 Apple USB Thunderlightning Wireless Port. And your car doesn't seem to have an interface for that.

The Lightning to analog headphone adapter is $10, and IIRC, I had a USB port in my 2002 Acura RSX in a $200 third-party head unit anyway. But, pretending everything Apple makes is a kajillion billion dollars and incompatible with everything is sure a lot more fun!

Re: Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

#620

Post by celticmusic » Mon, Jun 17, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

marapuru wrote: post #47

Praise to Mazda for making this decision. As a User Experience Professional, I was never able to grasp the true user's need for touch screens in cars. For years I have been working on product interfaces (not just apps). Many studies I conducted actually told me that people favored analog controls over digital touch screens controls. It gives you tactile feedback, making it accessible for anyone with sense of touch. >…

a thousand times this.

A year or two ago I considered buying another car after I had a fedex semi hit me (turning left from a stop, not dangerous). I drive a 2004 corolla and love toyota, but the guy looked at me like I had grown frog legs when I asked if they had any models without the touchscreen.

It was actually a major decision in me keeping my vehicle. I do NOT like the touchscreen, to me it's a complete no-brainer that it's more dangerous. I sure as shit don't want to be clicking through crap while driving.

When I was in HS I had a friend whose family had a couple of toyota vehicles. One of them was a small orange truck from the 70's I think. That thing looked like absolute crap, but ran beautifully. The only thing that finally killed that vehicle was their son going around a curve too quickly in the rain and rolling it. It's why I decided to buy toyota and I'm 100% happy with it.

But this touchscreen issue is a big enough issue in my mind that I may start researching Mazda. I seriously do not want a damned touchscreen in my car.