The Hidden Cost of Touchscreens

Post by namdnay » Wed, Jul 04, 2018, 9:00 AM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #140

namdnay wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's a lack of attention to detail from Mini. Just a decision made with the knowledge that people don't buy premium cars based on rational decisions. If they did, I'm not sure Mini (or BMW for that matter) would exist... I don't think this is the case for airplanes.

My purchase of a Mini was mostly motivated by 1. wanting a physically small car (I'm bad at parking) 2. ...that wasn't anemic at highway speeds 3. ...and could (uncomfortably) fit a couple of friends if necessary, or some flat-pack furniture boxes 4. ...all without being either bland or ugly as sin.

Post by Izkata » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 12:56 AM UTC

digi_owl wrote: post #58

kjeetgill wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the mixed mode works really well. Touchscreens are pretty natural and intuitive, especially for things like ATMs, but you can't have braille on ATM touch screens so you need the buttons no matter what. At least in the US they usually have headphone jacks to replace the information presented on the screen though, and since you have a screen you might as well make it a touch screen.

> Touchscreens are pretty natural and intuitive Try to watch someone in their 60s operate them and you will learn that the are anything but. My dad find them endlessly frustrating, as his first instinct when talking about something in an image or something is to put his finger on it. But that invariably triggers something on such a screen. He also struggles with things like Google Maps on a PC with a scroll mouse, as…

Post by albedoa » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 3:57 AM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #152

albedoa wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drive a 2011 MINI Cooper S and have owned a 2007 and a 2003. Every generation has its share of wtf when it comes to dashboard switches. Take my biggest peeve, the blower switch on the 2011: If you press "increase" while at max blower, it stays at max blower. If you press "decrease" while at min blower, it turns off. If you press "decrease" while at off, it goes to min blower. So you can jam the blower to max withou…

> So you can jam the blower to max without looking, but if you overshoot on the way back down, it goes off and on again! Seems like the "turn to lowest if decrease is pressed while off" was explicitly designed to overcome this issue.