For me it’s the notification light you used to find on older phones, was particularly good to know if your phone was charged without picking it up
For me it’s the notification light you used to find on older phones, was particularly good to know if your phone was charged without picking it up
Physical buttons in cars for radio and environment settings.
There used to be a time when I could have my hand on the gear shifter and just reach out with my fingers to change radio stations or adjust the heat or a/c without needing to look down at all.
Now with modern touchscreens in cars, you can’t do any of that. I have gotten used to playing with the radio via the steering wheel buttons, but anything else requires hunting around, looking for the correct spot to touch the screen.
And yet they say, “don’t take your eyes off the road!”
I’m a school bus driver and some modern buses have the switches for operating the doors and the 8-ways (the amber and red flashers at the top corners) on the steering wheel and they drive me up the fucking wall. The problem is that you often have to stop for kids after making a sharp turn one way or the other, so the wheel is not in its normal position and you have no idea where the switches are and have to look down to see them. If they’re on the left fixed panel (their “normal” location) you can reach for them without having to look.
That’s just terrible design, the only buttons that should be on the steering wheel are ones you are likely to use while at speed and there should always be backups on the dash. It’s more expensive to run wires to the wheel and they’re more likely to break.
I just got a 2018 Honda Odyssey and it’s great. It has the touch screen, but also has physical buttons for almost all of the climate and radio stuff. That’s how it should be IMO. Just give us both!
You’re lucky (or smart) to go with the 2018, my gfs 2016 Honda Accord does have physical buttons for the climate, but for some reason has a weird touch pad thing instead of a volume knob. It drives us both up the wall. The car is near perfect besides that but that one issue is enough to convince me to never buy a Honda of that generation.
My new Hyundai Kona Electric still has those and I think all of Hyundai’s new models (EV or not) still have them
Our 2021 Hyundai Kona has physical buttons for most things, and some advanced functions are accessible through the touchscreen. Maybe it’s an exception
Physical buttons in most things are going away whenever companies see they can do it.
It’s weird looking at appliances from decades ago, mostly because it’s clear we are stuck with lower quality where people are willing to concede.
Not exactly.
Yeah you can preview this cycle by looking at Cadillac. They were among the first to go touch-only with Cue in the early 2010s, started fading back in physical buttons with new models in the late 2010s, and on their newest models now have a full set of very nice custom buttons not shared from the GM parts bin.