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Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

autocar.co.uk

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Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#141

Post by close04 »

closeparen wrote: post #125
woozyolliew wrote: post #23

Always seemed like a cargo cult: iphone good; touch good; buttons bad (steve said). Let’s hope it’s a new trend! I love that my Audi still has tactile buttons and wheels, and was a big factor in choosing it. My previous car had a touch screen and it was so dangerous having to brace my hand for accuracy and stare at my fingers while driving.

How do you feel about the MMI scroll wheel? I don’t feel safe using that either; it still requires eyes on the screen to see what you’re selecting. Even my passengers, who can give it their full attention, are routinely stymied by the process of pairing their phones for Bluetooth audio playback. At least I can get the volume and temperature knobs by feel.

I think there can be a balance between physical controls for actions that need to and will often be used while driving, and touch controls for stuff that you will most likely use when standing still.

Controlling the temperature or music volume will be done while driving so they should be actual buttons that your muscle memory will reach with no mental effort or distraction. Adjusting the suspension settings or typing in a GPS address can be done via a touchscreen since it's unlikely you'll do it on the move and touch offers a better experience for this.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#142

Post by cinbun8 »

neya wrote: post #117

Let me give you another perspective - I own a Suzuki SX4 S-Cross that comes with a fluid, super responsive and intuitive touchscreen with voice commands in it, which can also be controlled from the steering. You can do stuff like ask to call someone's phone, or read a text message or ask you to give directions. But the real highlight is the UI + UX. It's super intuitive in that the volume controls, although touch, ar…

That's only one control though. You can still accidentally touch something else while you fish for this control. I'm sure most users would prefer dials that provide touch feedback.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#143

Post by hobs »

briandear wrote: post #123
woozyolliew wrote: post #23

Always seemed like a cargo cult: iphone good; touch good; buttons bad (steve said). Let’s hope it’s a new trend! I love that my Audi still has tactile buttons and wheels, and was a big factor in choosing it. My previous car had a touch screen and it was so dangerous having to brace my hand for accuracy and stare at my fingers while driving.

You (or maybe the market) are misinterpreting Steve Jobs. In a phone context, he is correct.

Still loved all my physical buttons which made input a breeze and didnt require constantly correcting my dang text, in a phone context, nah, he's still wrong; maybe a hybrid is even better, but amorphous movement and inferring intent is not a great user experience as things get more complex.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#144

Post by ballenf »

I really wish Bevi (and similar kiosk type coffee or dispensing machines) would add physical buttons for dispensing and use the screen only for flavor information. I think our machine's screen isn't properly grounded or insulated from the refrigeration motors. I'm appreciative we have one in the office, however, and look forward to getting to see it again sometime.

Definitely agree with the sentiment that touch screens have gone too far. Feels kind of like the over use of plastic as we got better at manufacturing it. Hopefully the pendulum will swing back on touchscreens too.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#147

Post by stainforth »

jonny_eh wrote: post #70
koheripbal wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touch screens are cheap and very easy to develop for. They also de-couple the software development from the device development. It also allows updates and changes after the car is in production.

And customers apparently like them, when deciding what to buy.

I never buy this argument. I'm sure we could've focus grouped seat belts and no one would've liked the experience but thank god we have them now, for the better.

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#148

Post by tibbon »

Thank god.

I just got a 2005 Porsche Boxster with a CDR-24 radio, and one of my favorite things about it is how simple the interior controls are. Knobs, buttons, switches. The PCM radio I think might have had touch screen, but anyway...

My main point is that my 15 year old car doesn't feel anywhere near as dated as many cars from 2009, that have slow, low resolution, or awkward touch screens. The only car I've used with an acceptable (but still flawed in many ways) touch screen is a Tesla 3 or S.

An absence of features often for me turns out to be a feature. It's a car; do I even really need that many buttons or controls?

Re: Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

#150

Post by signal11 »

dron57 wrote: post #7

Funny coming from Honda. My parents own a 2017 (I think) Civic and the only way to adjust volume is by tapping +/- on the touchscreen. It's the most unusable volume adjustment I've ever experienced. It was completely unusable with a glove in the winter. So while most other companies only implemented touchscreen controls for secondary features Honda did it for the most widely used one. Now they are backtracking 100%,…

My 2017 Honda had a dial for adjusting the volume (it could also be pushed in to switch off).

The issue with new Hondas is that switching off/on the air conditioning, or air flow/fan speed, has to be done via touch screen. They do have dials for temperature control and a button to bring up the Climate UI.

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