Quote:
Originally Posted by Hehe
TBH, more often than not, it's about user's stubbornness with what they are familiar with.
Auto vs. stick
backup camera vs. just learn to drive
shifter knob vs. buttons
Look at when iPhone was introduced with no keyboard and no stylus. How many of the biggest names in the tech industry mocked Apple saying "people want a f**** keyboard". And how they mocked when they removed 3.5mm plug? How they mocked Apple when they removed DVD drive from MBP... "that's not PRO!!!"
Look when ICE cars were introduced and horse people were mocking about "where would you find gas?"
The list goes on.
The truth is, that consumers don't usually know what they want. The idea is to find something better, however little, and just present it to the public. Just because something is universally accepted doesn't mean that it's the best way to do it.
The best part is no part. The worst thing to do is to optimize things that shouldn't exist in the first place. Look at BMW's infotainment system. The iDrive system was horrendous, to say the least, and what was the next generation of that? Oh... they added hand gestures to do some stuff like volume control when they literally still have the volume button right there.
I drove a Model S loaner/kinda a test-drive once when I dropped my X for some adjustments. The missing stalk felt weird the first minute, but not unlike when I first got into a car where the gear selection was buttons/knobs instead of a stick/stalk. And to be totally frank... that's how far it goes the "weirdness". After a minute, you knew where it was and that's about it. You don't think about it. It's like when they added the infotainment control to the steering wheel. It was different... the first minute. Then you got used to them and never again did you touch the buttons on the center console.
There's no physical/safety reason for the stalk to be there. It's just how everyone has always done that way.
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Disagree with some points. iDrive was one of the best infotainment systems until the recent buttonless iteration. The Tesla all on the screen implementation isn't the worst out there, but it certainly isn't the best.
The argument that you don't need buttons is wrong, as it has been echoed by many UX/UI professionals. In the case of the cars, marketing won out. Marketing and sales wins over common sense in a lot of places, not just cars. It shows as BMW and VW are both showing signs are backtracking on their recent buttonless designs.
I do agree with some consumers not knowing what they want, and sometimes iterative designs have to be done in market to see what works and what doesn't. The gas vs horse thing isn't a great comparison as gas engines had a long way to go whereas a button for signals is.... a button for signals. The potential iterations would be to put the button on the dash board, or *gasp* put it on a stick somewhere. Control stalks have been a staple interactive piece in cars for a reason. Buttons on the dashboard and on the steering wheel for these functions have been tried and discard many times. Look at the Tesla yolk, it's a failed iteration and imo the stalkless design would fall in the same bucket. I mean, if you did this on a BMW it wouldn't matter since BMW drivers don't use signals anyways
I still lament the loss of the 3.5mm audio jack on phones. From a cost perspective, removing it is a significant saving as it removes one complexity for software and hardware design, it's probably 10 or so parts less than before to source or R&D on, and it's a huge win for IP ratings, so the value of it from a manufacturer's perspective is huge. As an audiophile consumer, BT headphones a few years ago was nowhere near the quality, nor was battery tech there. We've seen improvements in both, and in terms of the trade off between ease of use and quality the gap and tradeoffs have narrowed significantly. Now that I have kids and can't really enjoy music the way I used to, the tradeoff for BT has finally won out and I will no longer search for a phone with 3.5mm jack for the next replacement, but I was a hold out for a long time.