Big buttons!!!!! What a joke. As is android won't work in cars. If you have to look at the screen so you can hit a button (big or small) you are not looking at the road. What you need is Physical buttons you can feel with your fingertips. Different shape for different function.
I read the article. Whenever i voice search something i have to be connected to the internet. In a car that would drive my cell phone bill way up, so that's not a feature i would use and i'm sure not everyone has a huge data plan.
My remark was aimed at the music player. And you don't search while you drive, so you can use the touchscreen for that. Voice control is a problem, when your kid is screaming: I wanna go to Disneyland! Though that is only a problem if you are not going to Disneyland.
That data connection is dependent upon what you're doing. It's the same with button or voice. Telling your phone to pull up your music app is the same as tapping on it. There's no internet connection involved. Now telling your app to look up the current traffic status then the internet connection requirement is the same with voice command, touch screen button and a physical button.
Can you elaborate on how physical buttons don't use an internet connection while voice searching or tapping on the screen does or uses more internet data?
For voice recognition you have to be connected to Google's servers. To click a button you don't. You are mixing two comments. The point with the buttons was that it does not matter how big they are. If you have to look at the screen to touch them you are not looking at the road (not safe in case you didn't know). Then Mujuboo32 said that you could use voice controls to not have to look at the screen. But to do that you have to connect to Google's servers for voice recognition. Ergo voice controls need mobile data.
"For voice recognition you have to be connected to Google's servers."
No you don't You speak into phone and them it connects, translates the command and then disconnects. Its not a data consuming thing. As for the button not being safe because you have to look..........give me a break! It takes all of 1/2 second or less to glance at the screen. I'm sure you take your eyes off the road for that amount of time many times during a drive.
Also, as Ortanon said, the car maker will decide what physical buttons will be available. I hope some of them read your comment and do supplement the touch screen with physical buttons. I'd definitely like to have the option to use the touchscreen, voice control or physical buttons depending on what I'm doing.
For example, in my current car, my steering wheel has physical buttons for volume control, music player control (pause, skip, fast forward, rewind), phone control (answer, hangup, ignore). The dash also has other physical buttons that supplement the screen controls. I hope/assume when the nav/audio/car control system is replaced with this Android based system, they'd keep/enhance the physical controls.
LOL nice to see you have no idea how it works. It only connects to a server and passes data when it is given a command. It doesn't stay live the entire time. You would use VERY little data.
There's no contradiction whatsoever. For voice recognition you'll need a live connection to one of Googles' servers. Period. If you had any idea of TCP/IP then you'd also know that it might even be more (data) efficient to keep a TCP socket alive for a long time rather then reestablishing for every voice command if there more than a few dictations per day. And even "VERY little" amounts of data might cost a lot of money if you're travelling across the border as can be quite common in Europe -- not that any ignorant US people would actually care.
I also don't see why I would want to take such a huge step backwards as I do have nice physical controls in both of my cars and I have voice control if I wanted to (no, I usually don't because using voice control the system is not capable of supplying educated guesses and autocompletion) -- completely offline.
It's a shame that it has been made this easy to call handsfree in a car. I read many scientifical reports which concluded that it didn't matter whether someone was holding their phone or calling handsfree, but keeping the conversation going was distracting (and because of that, dangerous). I hope governments will soon take notice and warn drivers for the real danger in calling while driving.
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18 Comments
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SleepyFE - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Big buttons!!!!! What a joke. As is android won't work in cars. If you have to look at the screen so you can hit a button (big or small) you are not looking at the road. What you need is Physical buttons you can feel with your fingertips. Different shape for different function.bvn - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Um. Are you joking? Touchscreens are here to stay. I would expect OK Google to take a front seat in this.SleepyFE - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
I know touchscreens are here to stay, Does not mean that it's a good idea.mujuboo32 - Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - link
Read the article at least:"The Android Auto system is also designed to be functional with only the use of voice controls"
If you're not aware, Google has been improving their voice recognition software for a while now.
SleepyFE - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
I read the article. Whenever i voice search something i have to be connected to the internet. In a car that would drive my cell phone bill way up, so that's not a feature i would use and i'm sure not everyone has a huge data plan.Ortanon - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
The car manufacturer puts the physical buttons in the car. And usually they do, in fact. My car has them. What exactly is your complaint?Also, what physical button are you going to press to search for something?? Very confusing stuff you've got going on here.
SleepyFE - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
My remark was aimed at the music player. And you don't search while you drive, so you can use the touchscreen for that. Voice control is a problem, when your kid is screaming: I wanna go to Disneyland! Though that is only a problem if you are not going to Disneyland.piiman - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
or you have no control over you kids.acton11 - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
That data connection is dependent upon what you're doing. It's the same with button or voice. Telling your phone to pull up your music app is the same as tapping on it. There's no internet connection involved. Now telling your app to look up the current traffic status then the internet connection requirement is the same with voice command, touch screen button and a physical button.Can you elaborate on how physical buttons don't use an internet connection while voice searching or tapping on the screen does or uses more internet data?
SleepyFE - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
For voice recognition you have to be connected to Google's servers. To click a button you don't.You are mixing two comments. The point with the buttons was that it does not matter how big they are. If you have to look at the screen to touch them you are not looking at the road (not safe in case you didn't know). Then Mujuboo32 said that you could use voice controls to not have to look at the screen. But to do that you have to connect to Google's servers for voice recognition. Ergo voice controls need mobile data.
acton11 - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
Android has had the ability to do offline speech recognition since Jelly Bean.SleepyFE - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
Thanks for the info. I got android 4.0.3 so i still have to go online.In that case: FINALLY WE WILL GET OUR VERY OWN KITT!! GOTTA LOVE IT!!
piiman - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
"For voice recognition you have to be connected to Google's servers."No you don't
You speak into phone and them it connects, translates the command and then disconnects. Its not a data consuming thing. As for the button not being safe because you have to look..........give me a break! It takes all of 1/2 second or less to glance at the screen. I'm sure you take your eyes off the road for that amount of time many times during a drive.
acton11 - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
Also, as Ortanon said, the car maker will decide what physical buttons will be available. I hope some of them read your comment and do supplement the touch screen with physical buttons. I'd definitely like to have the option to use the touchscreen, voice control or physical buttons depending on what I'm doing.For example, in my current car, my steering wheel has physical buttons for volume control, music player control (pause, skip, fast forward, rewind), phone control (answer, hangup, ignore). The dash also has other physical buttons that supplement the screen controls. I hope/assume when the nav/audio/car control system is replaced with this Android based system, they'd keep/enhance the physical controls.
SleepyFE - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
Glad we're on the same page. Safety first. Then fancy features.piiman - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
LOL nice to see you have no idea how it works. It only connects to a server and passes data when it is given a command. It doesn't stay live the entire time. You would use VERY little data.Daniel Egger - Sunday, June 29, 2014 - link
There's no contradiction whatsoever. For voice recognition you'll need a live connection to one of Googles' servers. Period. If you had any idea of TCP/IP then you'd also know that it might even be more (data) efficient to keep a TCP socket alive for a long time rather then reestablishing for every voice command if there more than a few dictations per day. And even "VERY little" amounts of data might cost a lot of money if you're travelling across the border as can be quite common in Europe -- not that any ignorant US people would actually care.I also don't see why I would want to take such a huge step backwards as I do have nice physical controls in both of my cars and I have voice control if I wanted to (no, I usually don't because using voice control the system is not capable of supplying educated guesses and autocompletion) -- completely offline.
Oooskar - Monday, June 30, 2014 - link
It's a shame that it has been made this easy to call handsfree in a car. I read many scientifical reports which concluded that it didn't matter whether someone was holding their phone or calling handsfree, but keeping the conversation going was distracting (and because of that, dangerous). I hope governments will soon take notice and warn drivers for the real danger in calling while driving.