The State of In-Car UX

And how much for service?

Over the time I keep a car, the data plan needed to operate that iThingy may well cost far more than MSRP of the Nav option. Which itself greatly exceeds the cost of a portable aftermarket Nav device.

Which service provider do you use?

I'm waiting for the G to reach a provider I'm willing to pay for. As a very light user of wireless comms, I'm not yet willing to pay very much for the service plan.

 

Thanks to a drive-up ATM machine with Braille keys, I'm thinking about buying a Braille label maker. Then putting a Braille label on each button and control so I can tell without looking what my fingers are on.

Bob Wilson

 

True, but you'll probably be paying for that service whether or not the car has nav, or if you even have a car. If you already have the phone, BringGo or similar is a better deal than even an aftermarket device.

 

I know exactly where you are coming from.

This phone is a CDMA nominally locked to BoostWireless, which uses the Sprint network. I had originally intended to pay to have it unlocked so that I could continue using PagePlusCellular (PPC, an MVNO of Verizon), but I have since been able to verify to my satisfaction that Sprint works well in the areas I use the phone so I have left it as is. My strong preference for a smartphone only comes up when I travel out of state -- about 7 days of every 28. So that week I buy the $3/day (really) unlimited voice/text/data. It works out to buying 8 'days'. The rest of the time I make do with VoIP by Wi-Fi although truth be told it sucks. Lucky for me I cannot remember the last time I *had* to place a call and could not use SMS. I keep my old RAZR in my pouch as another emergency phone connected through the Verizon network, or for the occasional call if my smartphone is dead. It costs ~ $2.5 month through PPC.

This might sound complicated, but I only give out my Google number so a new phone is a trivial matter of just setting a call forwarding option.

Moving dot on a map type Navigation does not require a service plan. Turn by turn might, it depends on the app.

I see you are having trouble with facts again.

Windows 1 was released Nov 20, 1985 -- close to 2 years after the Macintosh. Here is a screen:



Just because a mouse is attached, does not a GUI make. The Macintosh had typography, iconography, human interface guidelines, a consistent abstracted linguistic syntax, and a graphical vocabulary. In short, it presented a world. Of course, the people who were (and remain) oblivious to all this were more than happy with MS Windows.

Trivia: what year did MS Windows gain the ability to drag a file to another place ?

I would say the last few posts (about the sutobahn prous) are using UK gallons. So 39 mpg reported is only ~33 mpg for US gallons.

Prius is a SULEV (in non-CA states) and the Jetta diesel is a SULEV and the Jetta gasoline is a SULEV (all states). There's no cleanliness difference as far as the EPA is concerned.

The Cruze is a diesel. The VW XL1 gets 120 mpg as a diesel car (after battery is empty). I

 

We share a common memory of life in the PC world back then:

That was about the time I bought a 128K Mac for $1650, which came with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. The PC salesman that had gotten me into their shop on a $1450 "sale" but lost the deal when he asked,"Do you need a keyboard and monitor?" that drove the price over the Macintosh.

I had put together our plant and equipment request for the next year with ten systems:

• 2 - Macintosh for our word processing department
• 6 - portable clones for the lab, our engineers, and a pair for 'road warrior' managers
• 2 - desk station clones for the finance group

Then one of our 'helpers' at headquarters came down and made them all IBM branded systems and claimed 'anything a Macintosh could do, PC Paint could do too' . . . blatant lie. He doubled the cost, size, and weight but at least we got the luggables for the engineers and that was critical. They could at last do their 8080 based hardware and software systems on the bench, often with an oscope in the stack and not deal with the 'professional' software staff.

Bob Wilson

 

With increasing time spent with an aging parent in a rural area, I need an MVNO that works on Verizon's CDMA system. Tracfone has been fine for voice and SMS. While the semismart phone I have now is much better than nothing, but is becoming less useful as more 'mobile' web pages are expanded beyond its resources.

If the G is supported at PagePlus, I'll give them another look.

 

Back to the OP.

I use little self adhesive pips that are sold as feet for ornaments to stop them scratching the table top as ergonomic markers stuck to my important keys in one, two and threes, vertically, horizontally and triangles. Works well. Also available are felt feet in different textures which can make a button feel 'different' to its companions.

 

BringGo still puts the screen in the wrong spot, leading to distracted driving (and difficult to operate). A phone Map is directly in my line of sight, same as the speedometer & other gauges

 

You can stick the screen on your ear --- just like a phone -- and guess what ? You are going to be distracted because your concentration is not on the road.

 

In some ways Toyota has actually gone backwards in terms of user interface. The 2nd and 3rd gen Pri have a problem in that most of the car cannot be operated by a person wearing gloves, and even bare handed, the climate controls can't be operated by touch.

The pre-touch screen Toyotas had three large round knobs arranged in a row across the dash. They had a large handle and made distinct clicks as they turned from one position to the next. You could probably work them with mittens on. they were fan speed, temperature, and where the air goes. Once you learned them you could adjust the climate in any Toyota without taking your eyes off the road.

All of my hi-tech Priuses with their touch screens have been inferior to those three simple knobs.

 

I hear ya!

I have to say though, that my Prius vagon has a very nice and simple interface for climate that uses a knob cum joystick of sorts. Very smart, and like you my test is that I do not have to look at it.

 

The 2010Prius climate control controls are the most bizarre and counterintuitive I have ever used. An off but no on button. You can turn the fan up or down but not off--that's on the other side. You can't turn the A/C on by pushing the button unless the fan is on, etc., etc.
The second most annoying thing about the Prius except the rear and rear/side view.

 

I've noticed the same problems. People often justifiably criticize cars' screen-based interfaces -- but the console/dash buttons are an interface too. I've seen some rather user unfriendly choices in recent years' models from various manufacturers. Sometimes I wonder if the attention paid to touchscreens and HUD's has diverted designers' attention / resources from the old skool user interfaces?

 

The map on my phone is less distracting than flipping through a AAA atlas (how I used to navigate). Of course both are still superior to a screen that is arms length away and difficult to see. They really should be outlawed like how phone usage is outlawed.

 

And he forgot the Apple Lisa which came out before the Mac.

Mike

 

In my state, using a phone map or GPS is a violation of the texting-while-driving law, unless the device "is permanently affixed to the vehicle". The definition of "permanently affixed" depends on who is doing the interpreting.

 

Southern Californians remember the not-so-long ago days of navigating LA with a Thomas Guide on the passenger's seat. When you drove "off the page" you were on, you had to flip to another page that probably wasn't adjacent. What could possibly go wrong? It's strange now to thing there was never talk of banning use of such a "device" while driving - and that we rarely consider the practicality of interfaces that aren't electronic.