I really hate touch screens, more so in a vehicle. Physical buttons will be a deciding factor in my next vehicle purchase.
Unfortunately screens are going to be hard to avoid given that all new cars in the US are required to have a backup camera. That is, at least, a useful feature. Some cars like newer Audis even have backup camera screens that only pop up when you're reversing. Pretty nice.
Push button start is also going to be hard to avoid, almost all new cars I'm aware of have it. There's some features to disable for security reasons though, such as where touching the door handle will unlock the car if the key fob is near. There are reports of thieves employing signal repeaters to use this to steal cars while the fob is in the house nearby.
Lastly, push-button shifting, what a mess. Thankfully there are still many cars that don't implement this feature and my hope is it will remain a fad or not popular.
I ended up buying a 2019 Forester. I wasn't happy that it had a screen but at least on the trim level I got it's smaller (and cheaper!). I'll have to make peace with this one because it's the future. It also has push-button start, but this is pretty much unavoidable as well on new cars.
Mine too. I can't wait until more cars have Tesla-like touch screens. I don't really need/want more buttons than 4 blinkers and lock car doors.
Do you own a modern smartphone?
If I can use something else I will. Phones are small enough there really isn't a better alternative to a mouse, but I would still rather have a physical keyboard than a touch keyboard. On laptops with touch pads I always connect a mouse. If it's a laptop or desktop with a touch screen, the last thing I want touching the screen is my greasy fingers. I have a mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse for a reason. They are superior input devices.
The notable exception for might be climate controls, as those tend to be placed well enough to reach without looking. Many other physical controls aren't done so well.
Do you navigate your phone while driving? The implication is that with physical button interfaces you can do a lot of stuff without moving your eyes from the road.
I own a smartphone since 1 year ago and I don't like the touchscreen, I almost never type on it and when I am forced to I hate it. The advantage vs my old phone is the accessibility features in Android makes it easier for me to read my messages and when needed I can use Text To Speech.
Touchscreen input did not won because is better but because it is included in the screen so you can keep the device smaller, but keep in mind that the important functions on the phone are still done with physical button like the Power button, volume buttons, you can usually open your camera by tapping a physical button a few time, why ? Because nobody wants to waste time and open an app to change the volume.
I wouldn't do that if my phone had physical buttons either. I mean, it isn't as if the driving interface in question has no physical controls. The ones that it has are roughly analogous to your power button, volume buttons, etc.
The ones that people are debating are a bit like the physical mute buttons that phones used to sometimes have. Some people still want them, some don't care, but there is plenty of debate.
No? I don't understand why the ability to use my phone while driving is important here.
> Touchscreen input did not won because is better but because it is included in the screen so you can keep the device smaller, but keep in mind that the important functions on the phone are still done with physical button like the Power button, volume buttons, you can usually open your camera by tapping a physical button a few time, why ?
Touchscreens won because they're versatile: enough so that I don't actually have a physical button on my phone to open the camera.
Usually there is a way to open the camera by pressing say volume Up 3 times, it would open the camera much faster then you having to turn on the screen and tap a camera button that could be hard in sun light.
Do you enjoy typing on a phone or trying to hit those small buttons on the menus or in some apps? a few pixels miss would start a different action.
I hate it but it could be just me, I have eye problems and I use the phone with largest possible fonts and other accessibility features on.
Haptics are important, especially if you do not want to look at the input device. I tried writing on an iPad. It just doesn't work beyond extremely basic use cases and you need to check everything.
I don't know if a photodiode is cheaper than a mechanical switch, but I hate this trend in consumer products to more touch input. It certainly has advantages in durability and dirt protection, but interfacing by touch is just so bad.
Yes, I do, but that doesn't mean I hate touchscreens…
Yes, and where I live it's illegal to operate while driving.