The Hidden Cost of Touchscreens
I sometimes feel I am in a minority of one these days.<p>Just about every car I've owned, I develop a muscle memory of where all the important switches are, and how far to turn to "hot enough" or "cool enough" etc. Same for most things around - I know fairly well how far to turn the oven for 180 +-10, no need to look. I might check if it's something especially sensitive (rare).<p>Thanks to iPhone (I have one, and like it) touch has become the answer to everything and that muscle memory doesn't work any more.<p>My current car is a pain in the arse as despite a dozen switches on the steering wheel they've forced simple functionality into the centre touch screen with awful UI where a simple switch would have worked fine.<p>Only Apple and a handful of others have any idea of usable UI - and even they aren't as hot as they once were. Anyone making appliances or cars is especially bad at UI. Worse if they decide to add helpful beeps. I don't want to be <i>looking</i> at anything in the car except the idiots outside it and the speedo. Nothing. Ever. Give me the damn switches back!<p>Heck even smart phones are a step back for use as a camera or phone. Old Sony-Ericssons had the ergonomics of a camera as well, including button and lens cover. Every feature phone could be answered (and most of a text written) without looking even once.<p>I really would like my stuff to move beyond this cargo cult of touch and keep it just for the iPhone.