The tyranny of touch screens may be coming to an end.
Companies have spent nearly two decades cramming ever more functions onto tappable, swipeable displays. Now buttons, knobs, sliders and other physical controls are making a comeback in vehicles, appliances and personal electronics.
In cars, the widely emulated ultra-minimalism of Tesla’s touch-screen-centric control panels is giving way to actual buttons, knobs and toggles in new models from Kia, BMW’s Mini, and Volkswagen, among others. This trend is delighting reviewers and making the display-focused interiors of Tesla and its imitators feel passé.
Similar re-buttonization is occurring in everything from e-readers to induction stoves.
Thank fuck. So glad I managed to dodge the cars with all touch screen controls. I got one as a loaner after my Civic was totaled in an accident (Thank u for buying me a new car, uninsured, out-of-state white supremacist with a truck too big for any reasonable use!) and it used the touch screen to control the climate control! I had to look away from the road to change the heating!
Just stupid.
Give me simple buttons and knobs I can feel and fix. Capacitives, touch screens, all that nonsense should stick to phones.
I’m okay with the phone being a touch screen. The rest can go back to normal.
@TheAlbatross I hear ya. My Civic was recently totalled, too. My newer 2024 Civic, ironically enough, has psychical buttons for the heater. The touchscreen is used for other stuff.
I got a '21 VW Golf and, similarly, it’s physical controls for everything I really want and touch screen for the GPS/media center. I can still change volume and tracks with physical buttons on the steering wheel, so that’s all fine.
Kinda miss the Civic. I love the hatchback on the golf and it is a delight to drive, but I think it’s like half a ton heavier than the Civic and that’s not as nice. Still gets phenomenal milage tho
I want buttons on my phone too.
I got 3 (Volume rocker and power) and it feels like plenty.
It’s been so long since I had more than 3 and I’m curious. I had an iPhone for work, that had a 4th, the home button on the bottom center of the touch screen and I hated that. What do you want from physical buttons on the phone?
Feeling nostalgic for the blackberry?
I’m nostalgic for it, but at the same time, I’d be nostalgic for 3.5 seconds if I used one again. People tend to forget how frustrating those devices could be too. I had several iterations of the blackberry, and everyone of them came with a lot of quirks that modern phones just don’t have. Sure, I sort of miss the tactile feel of buttons, but it was also a lot of work punching out long emails on them, and pocket lint did a real number on those things too.
My last phone before my first smart phone was basically a sidekick (it wasn’t actually a sidekick, but I don’t remember the actual name of it and the sidekick has a similar enough formfactor).
That thing’s texting keyboard was fucking rad. I could type so fucking fast on that. I really want a smart phone with that keyboard.
In colder parts of the world you actually drive with mittens on. I have no idea how’s that going to work with modern touch screen cars.
I’ve seen gloves with tips on the fingers for using touch screens!
Yeah I have those gloves too. They’re ok for mildly chill weather like 0 °C, but when the inside of the car goes below -10 °C you really begin to miss proper mittens. When it’s -20 °C, mittens are the only realistic option.
I have some. They really suck ass. You can muddle through but it’s not really an ideal solution.
You either have to purchase special capacitance-enabled globes (like silver) or else take them off for every button press that you want to make. :-(
I’m of the opposite opinion. I’m tired of dashboards just absolutely smothered in Technicoloured buttons. I much prefer the touchscreen where everything is centralized. I find it less distracting, personally.
Cars are a very intimate personal thing though, and I understand others frustrations with it. Guess I’m the outlier.
I would have brought it right back and asked for a different loaner, since the HVAC is clearly and visibly missing.