What is the best dumb TV?

Post by LargoLasskhyfv » Sat, Oct 03, 2020, 3:22 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #363

garfieldnate wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're going off topic now, but why do all microwaves have knobs now? I hate them. I want a number pad like the microwaves had when I was growing up. I want to close the door, press the numbers that indicate the amount of time I want and hit "start". When you turn a knob, either you have no indication of the exact time, or there's a display that moves in increments that the computer thinks are good (usually 10s). I do…

Same here. I want my button-blister microwaves back. Knobs are low-accuracy, low-precision. Which may be fine for some cooking, but not all. On my current knob-equipped microwave, my precision is limited to +/- 30 seconds simply due to the mechanical design, which means a) it's hard to heat anything up "just a little", as sub-minute heating is hit-and-miss, and b) it's hard to do food sensitive to cooking time. Butto…

Post by xur17 » Sat, Oct 03, 2020, 3:56 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #284

bArray wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I've had the "one button" UI on a "smart" watch where you're doing a series of single taps, multi-taps, short presses, long presses, etc. It's really not fun for several reasons: 1. It takes forever to do anything even remotely complex. 2. The most common features aren't really the easiest to access (in terms of input effort). 3. If you make even a single mistake in a long series of taps, you have to loop all the…

So much this. I bought an oven. I wanted as few features as possible, ideally just a bake and a grill, then a knob for the amount of heat. I bought one with 2 knobs and that appeared to have very few ‘features’. It turns out it does a ton. You hold both knobs and do various twiddle manoeuvres and things start happening. The light turns on, the clock adjusts, the timer is set, the eco mode is activated or the temperat…

Post by narwally » Sat, Oct 03, 2020, 4:10 PM UTC

moksly wrote: post #322

kebman wrote: post #207

I don't have a TV, only a few monitors (it's very liberating, actually). So instead I'll talk about my microwave. Yes, unironically! :D It has two dials. OMG how do I survive with only two dials? How do I program it? Well, the answer is, unsurprisingly, that I don't program it. Instead I crank it to watever wattage I need (usually the top one), and the time I think it'll take until the food I becomes hot. Aaaand that…

My microwave has a wheel to turn the timer, a wheel to set the WATT, a stop button and a start button. If you press the start button it’ll automatically run for 30 seconds, if you press it again it’ll add another 30 seconds to the current run. It took me maybe 4 years of owning it before I learned of the start button feature. Not sure what the hell people are doing with microwaves that connect to the internet, but I…

Post by jjoonathan » Sat, Oct 03, 2020, 4:12 PM UTC

lsaferite wrote: post #496

danielheath wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Found the millennial? The knob design is the much older one as it's purely analog. Modern microwave knobs are not properly analog. They are so infuriating - an analog control fiddling with a discrete setting. As you turn the knob, it will occasionally (with no haptic feedback) tick over to the next discrete value.

Sounds like a UX fail to not use an encoder with detents.

Post by narwally » Sat, Oct 03, 2020, 4:18 PM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #366

garfieldnate wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're going off topic now, but why do all microwaves have knobs now? I hate them. I want a number pad like the microwaves had when I was growing up. I want to close the door, press the numbers that indicate the amount of time I want and hit "start". When you turn a knob, either you have no indication of the exact time, or there's a display that moves in increments that the computer thinks are good (usually 10s). I do…

Easier to clean than a number pad. I think knobs are great, you can rotate fast with very little effort. I think it should be a standard feature of computer keyboards.