Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms The operation in some new cars is getting worse.

I would doubt the 300 - how can they know. My guess would be more than that. Its an age issue as well because we dont cope with multitasking anything like as well when we age. I find that when riding my motorbike I have to put the sat nav into the luggage and rely on bluetooth directions via the speakers in my helmet because that doesnt take my eyes off the road to read a screen and to work out what its telling me. Even fiddling to change the radio channel causes a bit of drift out of line whilst driving.

My new to me Merc is damn near as bad Heinz because it has three alternative ways of doing most things which causes confusion and fumbling about.

According to wiki KISS

No offence meant, Mkiss. I presumed you were using it yourself to describe a series of actions.

There is a lot of difference in many ways.

1) I doubt all the modern young trendies that live on their phones have an issue with it as much as the (naughty generalisation) typical age group of our distinguished forum does!
2) the bigger the car LCD panel the easier it is (to some extent) to hit the buttons as they can be made larger with a good UX designer.
3) firm mounting is critical if any of this is not going to result in a dramatic reduction in the lamp post count in the UK. They are expensive if you hit them btw.
4) Less moving parts, less assembly time, faster replacement, software updates, same config for basic to super-lux models- it's here to stay.

I agree re the lack of lighting on the "slider", whoever signed that off in quality control probably does not work there anymore.
I totally agree re the number of sub menus, even the older UI on the ML I have needs select-up-up-prod-down-down-prod-down-right-prod for some stuff.
It takes no effort to twist the temperature to where I need it to be as it clicks over two or three detents.

I do not know anyone who uses more than two or three of the voice commands in their car.
I hardly know anyone who uses the voice input to their phone for anything other than setting the alarm or asking the time.
I would guess that the future generations will find this a bit more natural. Certainly Alexa seems to be more than capable of hearing us!

The youff market knows it's way around a mobile phone so well that it can almost do it blindfold. It is a different issue for them.
Apple CarPlay is intended to provide a virtual mask over all the apps so that it reduces the moving interaction but this still seems to be on version 1.1 and needs to raise its game.
Perhaps the forthcoming Apple Car might change this? If they can work out the charging.

I don't think we are the target market!

In so many markets. I'm beginning to understand why my parents found technology difficult as they aged.

Oh, the only time I use voice commands is to activate the Co Pilot!

Does she have a tendency to reach across and hit you when you try that one?

I am not feeling offended in this case - it was just a question whether I could be - so a question in language and grammar...

Keep it Simple, Stupid.
I think that the comma after "simple" tends to suggest that the person to whom it is directed is stupid. Whether it is a noun or an adjective is, I think, the discussion.

I also think that the comma could be misinterpretable under certain circumstances. Better perhaps to keep it simple stupid.

Age is undoubtedly a factor Alistair - my ability to mentally multi task has deteriorated as I get older and so my ability to cope with distractions is much less. But that is a good reason for good design - manufacturers cannot afford to design the function of expensive new cars round the capabilities of the 20 year olds who mostly dont buy them. Old farts are a big market for upmarket cars.

As for voice commands I dont know anyone who uses them in the car. But I certainly use them on my phone - the ability to dictate texts and emails rather than tap them in with arthritic fingers is really good for a golden oldie. And most everyone needs to use texts and email during the day.

The problem with modern car design is not only the use of touch screens but the inclusion of unnecessary funtions. For example, our family Merc diesel estate has flappy paddles and engine modes! How pointless is that! Then it has three different ways of accessing radio settings - whats wrong with just one? Multiple ways of accessing other settings too many of them as useless as the engine modes and simply put there because they impress the vacuous and increas the price at little cost.