Physical buttons making a comeback!

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[Cybertooth]

I read this today in the Wall Street Journal. The online article is paywalled, but it got picked up by a news aggregator: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/touch-screens-are-over-even-apple-is-bringing-back-buttons/ar-AA1rlCa1

The article begins like this:

The tyranny of touch screens may be coming to an end.

Companies have spent nearly two decades cramming ever more functions onto tappable, swipeable displays. Now buttons, knobs, sliders and other physical controls are making a comeback in vehicles, appliances and personal electronics.

…and it only gets better after that. Well worth reading, especially for those (like me) who’ve never been fans of the touch interface.

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• This topic was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Cybertooth.
• This topic was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Cybertooth.
• This topic was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Cybertooth.

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When I bought my LG Mini HiFi Stereo system in 2021 off Amazon, I was happy when setting it up to see a huge knob for volume control, didn’t pay much attention to these details at the time of purchase. No touch to control the system, and there are buttons that click to set various functions. It’s great, and was inexpensive. Lots of electronics are made with touch navigation for most features, too much touch/tap and swipe out there.

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Cybertooth

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Great news!

I’m one of those people who suffers from Zombie Finger syndrome so I always carry a stylus for use with my cellphone or another touch screens I encounter.

That also means I still drive a 26 year old auto with physical control buttons because there’s no reasonably way for me to use touch screen controls while I’m driving.

Now that auto makers have started to realize physical buttons were always a much better way of controlling things without distracting the driver, I may consider getting a new vehicle — as long as it comes with physical control buttons instead of touch screen ones.

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For a few years now Mazda has been using a hybrid touchscreen and physical button control approach. In addition to the common steering wheel mounted physical audio controls they have a touch screen on the dashboard and physical buttons and a dial controls on the center console between the two front seats.

You can use the touch screen alone when the car is stopped or creeping at about 5 mph or less (I think) but the touch function is disabled above 5 mph and you have to use the physical controls on the center console instead.

You can override that by installing Android Auto or Apple Car Play and maintain the touch screen function if you prefer that. Personally I like the physical controls on the center console between the front seats. It doesn’t take long for muscle memory to remember where the buttons are to select the category you want and then it’s a simple turning of the dial to get to the option you want and a push down on the dial to select it. You still have to briefly take your eyes off the road but not nearly for as long as you do when doing everything on the screen.

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Myst

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I had to rent a car once and nearly went crazy trying to use the screen.  I was so thankful that the A/C had knobs to control it.  I just turned that “dashboard distraction screen” off!

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Button switches & controls FTW here, especially when in driving control of a vehicle.
Steering wheel buttons in combination with stalk buttons have been a great safety feature whilst driving, with minimal interuption to driving concentration, vision and alertness.
Although the flipside is the cost of auto electricians to diagnose/ fix electrical problems..

IMHO, it pays to have one’s own OBDII diagnotic device these days, 2 or 3 fixes by yourself has paid for the device given the current rate of in-car diagnostics and auto-electrician hourly rates.

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Microfix wrote:

Steering wheel buttons in combination with stalk buttons have been a great safety feature whilst driving

I don’t touch any steering wheel buttons while driving except for volume up/down.
I set the touch screen before driving (navigation, music channel,…) During driving I use voice/Siri on CarPlay.

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Yes indeed . . . knobs, buttons, and switches for me.  I was surprised to find my 1979 Pioneer SX-780 Stereo Receiver is still for sale . . . for about five times what I paid for it back then, and it still plays great!

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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JPMedia, SueW, opti1, WCHS, Myst

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