Bring Back Our Knobs: Analog vs. Digital (2009)

It's because the layperson isn't constantly observing systems and thinking about how effective or efficient they are. Their minds just don't seem to work like that. (Perhaps there's some area of expertise they have which applies outside the realm of technology...)

While fumbling with some poorly designed UI, they don't appear to get as angry and exclaim, "This user interface sucks! My previous car had a button to turn the A/C on and off."

They just accept it. I could get philosophical (thanks for asking!), and I think that's a general problem with humanity. Too many are too accepting of just whatever comes along, and that's how we converge on terrible designs and terrible public policies and on and on.

>>Honest question: do you really see people touch the level of their ac during a drive?

Honest answer, not fudged for sake of making a point - Yes. Absolutely. I don't know if hyper-expensive luxury vehicles do better, but I can vouch that my wife has been frequently changing in our 2012 Kia Sportage, 2016 RAV4, and now 2019 Honda Odyssey. I've observed others do so frequently in Toyota Corolla, Honda Civiv, Subaru Crosstrek, VW Golf & Jetta. Like Kerning or Norman doors, or a low battery in screenshot, once you notice it you can't help notice it ever forth.

So those are my observed facts - people fiddle with their auto A/C a lot.

Why? I have my theories, but that is something I'm less confident about and none of them may be correct or sufficient (I've tried asking people, but as mentioned, most have no idea they're actually doing it and it doesn't seem to be on conscious level; which is reasonable - my own adjustment has always been "automatic" until I started paying conscious attention):

- Perhaps it's just psychological. If I'm feeling cold, I don't trust the system and I turn it up. If I'm feeling warm, I want it colder faster. If it's -10C outside, I'll turn it up to 24C even though it may not get me warmer than if I just left it at 21C. Then it gets 24C and I'm hot. This may be just a case of humans using good system badly.

- I think however, is that system ignores some of the reality. The AIR temperature may be a steady 21C. But if the air is 21C in cabin on a dark cold night when it's -10C outside when the very windshield seems to suck the warmth out of my body, I probably actually want it warmer. If it's 21C air but noon July sun is blazing on me, I probably actually want ambient temperature colder. If I start a July trip heading south and Sun is blasting on me, I need A/C cooler; then I turn North-West and sun is behind me, and all this A/C is now chilling me too much. I think it's an error to think ambient temperature is all that our body cares to be comfortable - I think what we're wearing, how we're feeling, what the radiative environment is, etc, are all factors.

- Finally, it's that unpredictability and chasing. Heavily influenced by above, sometimes you're just comfortable, but A/C changes what it's doing because what it measures and what your lived reality is don't match, so you end up chasing each other.

Maybe 2021 Mercedes S class etc don't have that problem; maybe people have changed it and you never noticed, or maybe they genuinely haven't because your systems are better or people are using it smarter or they just care less or whatever other reason; but I have personally seen very few people set Automatic HVAC to a specific temperature and never touch it again.

My 100 Croatian Lipa :)

Responsiveness has many facets. tactile feedback (like the solid click of a rocker ), visual distinction , feedback latency (how many milliseconds between input and taking action), tactile distinction (can you distinguish the control without looking at it), audible distinction .

soft buttons , soft logic controllers and touch UIs fail at all of the above

the result is a sluggish, frustrating and counterintuitive experience when engaging with the world around you .

we replaced our kitchen range with a new budget model. they replaced the analog oven settings with a keypad .

the old model could be activated in 1/2 second blindfolded by turning the knob. you could see the setting from across the room eg when heading out the door.

the new range requires 3 button presses and holding the temp control button for 45 seconds while the temp slowly seeks 5 degree increments.

what sadist designs these systems? they can’t possibly be using them in their own homes.

It's not the control system, it's the psychology. People just aren't willing to let the car control the temperature automatically. It drives me nuts, but that's the reality. I've yet to find a car made after about 1990 that doesn't handle it better than people do. Fiddling with the setpoint and/or the output just makes the system never settle. If you just leave it alone it gets the job done. But I'd say it's about 10-20% of drivers that actually do that. The rest screw with it constantly.

Ideal cockpit panel is one with a bunch of knob and a bunch of switch with e-ink label that allow you to freely reassign, and maybe a resitive instead of capacitive touch screen for some odds thing. They are less prone to accidently touching and work with gloves