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Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

drive.com.au

371–380 of 523 posts

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#371
by the time they do so , autonomous driving will be solved, and they will have to redo it again, since they screw up first time.

Tesla despite fsd gimmick and clearly failing timelines and promises... They really created an infotainment system with a very clear and functional design in mindm that is very understandable and extensible:

1. long(er) vs gas car charges need a "TV/gaming experiences"

2. real self driving car needs the same as #1 ^

3. every ui needs to be fully remotely accessible/adjusted due to no human driver. Temperature, seats preferences, even how A/C blows your face. Ideally by voice. This is why grok lands very well, even on very old cars with powerful enough chip.

German cars just blindly follow tesla "large screen" with no idea how to even watch a movie or plan any real game there. In same manner they are not built to survive autonomy.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are doing neither. All German car companies are idiots. Years of lead compared to all other car manufacturers, threw away all of it with sheer incompetence and bureaucracy. They saw less buttons on Tesla and tried to adopt it as a cost cutting measure instead of thinking of designing a better UX. Result is, laggy/buggy/buttonless bad ux that customers hated. So they are going back with a bad excuse. The mistake…

> All German car companies are idiots. Or maybe they understand from experience that physical buttons are better? When you can't take your eyes off the road, buttons you can feel with your fingers are better. That's easy to understand, is it not? > They saw less buttons on Tesla and tried to adopt it as a cost cutting measure Tesla is doing it as a cost cutting measure too. Elon Musk's philosophy is "the best part is…

That's why the steering wheel has enough buttons for things you really need during driving.

They are doing it for both, cost cutting WHILE improving UX. Only Rivian and some Chinese companies understand that.

Others did it JUST for cost cutting and result was obvious.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#374
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And to the haters: Show me any company or product from Germany in IT that is Top 100 globally. Also I wouldn’t want to disagree with you outright, there are still a few important German companies in the IT sector (or related): Siemens, Infineon, Deutsche Telekom, Bechtle, TeamViewer come to my mind. What Siemens exemplifies is that the strength of German industry is not pure software, but high-tech machinery. While…

Where Siemens really shines, is in their fanatical devotion to after sales. I rely on Siemens automation products at work. They give me end-of-life warnings a couple of years ahead - and maintain a spares inventory for a decade and change after EoL. That basically ensures I am never caught out, and makes me more than happy to (grudgingly) accept all their ideosyncracies...

I assume it makes you a loyal customer when upgrading/replacing equipment too... knowing what to expect and that you're going to have all of that support.

So many product companies fail to think about that -- they're all thinking about this quarter and very few take a long term approach and really try to have customers for life. They all say that want that of course, but too few are really committed to it. There are a few brands that I buy that are committed to quality, and they usually cost more (initially, but probably not in the long run). I'm fine paying more know that they really tried to do their best and didn't let nickels and dimes get in the way of an otherwise great concept.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#375
post #277
post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My argument was to keep the attention of the driver on the road. To that end, I don't care whether I am looking at a physical mirror or a screen that replaced one (as long as its good, high res, low latency screen) - I am looking in the direction I am driving and focused on steering the vehicle. For the same reason I don't mind (in fact, I appreciate) the silent helpers such as ABS, ESP, 4x4 and so on - all of those…

> I don't care whether I am looking at a physical mirror or a screen that replaced one You may care when you grow older. Looking at the reflection on a physical mirror of something far away is very different from looking at an image of the thing displayed on a screen close to your face.

Yeah, I know -- though I think for the time being the screens-as-mirrors extend to cars that would otherwise lack a sensible center rear-view mirror, so thats a net positive.

On screens replacing side windows, I don't have first-hand experience. I see them on trucks and some fancy Audis -- but since I know for a fact that Audi designers are dangerous, well organised people trying to kill me with their safety features, I avoid their cars religiously.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#376
I'm looking at buying a used Porsche Macan. Through 2021 they were absolute button-fests, with a console absolutely littered with physical buttons.

In 2022, they moved to a piano black console with haptic "buttons". It also seems like there are somehow fewer of them; I'm not sure if more functions moved into the touchscreen or what.

Anyway, needless to say, I have no interest in the 2022+ with the haptics.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#377
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite China, IT development is a complete disaster in Germany. All car so called German car manufacturers UX/UI is horrible to say the least. Dieter Rams is the only UX/UI designer, who became famous - outside of Germany. Hartmut Esslinger kind of popularized DR, what an irony, that two Germans made history, but of course not in Germany and even in Germany DR wasn't well known. Braun was a brand and statement, but…

My 992.2 has AA/CarPlay, and an outstanding user interface, with a nice mix of configurable displays and physical buttons. Fairly certain it is a top 100 product in it's market.

see my comment about shopping for a used Macan, and avoiding 2022+ with the haptic BS.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#378
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 992.2 has AA/CarPlay, and an outstanding user interface, with a nice mix of configurable displays and physical buttons. Fairly certain it is a top 100 product in it's market.

Yes, I think Porsche has a responsive excellent design with their infotainment / button combination though recent SUV / sedan models have moved to capacitive buttons and more touch screen controls and worsened the experience. To be fair, it is outsourced to Harmon/Kardon.

> it is outsourced to Harmon/Kardon

Many automakers use them for their headunits (ex. both my Chrysler minivan and my Porshce have HK headunits). The headunit in my porsche is also in some VW models and for the HN crew there are some fun hacks you can do with a usb stick to customize some features, including making carplay fullscreen (tap the porsche app to return to the porsche UI)...

https://github.com/LawPaul/MH2p_SD_ModKit

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last month I spoke to a woman driving a Porsche SUV. I was appalled to hear that she is trading it in for a Tesla model Y. I drive a Tesla, and I love it, but it is nowhere near the level of a Porsche. She claims that the model Y is quieter then the Porsche and she loves the self-driving. I advised her to take the Tesla for a long test drive before selling her Porshe, she said that her son in law has one.

That isn't surprising for most people. It is also hard to say without knowing which year and model Porsche she was driving. Someone with a Cayenne Turbo GT will have a different experience from someone with a 1st gen base Macan. A juniper Model Y is very fast, no engine noise, can drive itself better than a lot of cars on the highway for a similar price, doesn't need gas - convenient if you have a fast charger at hom…

IME the juniper model Y has crazy road and wind noise, it’s certainly louder in the cabin than my S63 which has a V8.

Fast? Sure.

Re: Mercedes-Benz commits to bringing back physical buttons

#380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last month I spoke to a woman driving a Porsche SUV. I was appalled to hear that she is trading it in for a Tesla model Y. I drive a Tesla, and I love it, but it is nowhere near the level of a Porsche. She claims that the model Y is quieter then the Porsche and she loves the self-driving. I advised her to take the Tesla for a long test drive before selling her Porshe, she said that her son in law has one.

It is true though. The level of porche is in the brand only; there isn't a single porche that is better than a juniper for a daily driver. She's making an excellent choice.

Did you somehow get a juniper which doesn’t suffer from significant road and wind noise?
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