I prefer older tech -> Turning into a dinosaur

[JEDI]

tablets? meh.. give me my laptop.

majority of new cars now have a 7" display screen and a single joystick knob to control/make selections from it. meh. give me my push buttons.
(ALL new cars will have a display screen when backup cameras become mandatory in 2017 )


get off my lawn (as I wave my cane over head).

/obligatory Still Own stock in horse buggy whip company

 

[poofyhairguy]

Is a tablet really new tech at this point? I mean maybe five years ago, but today it is a saturated segment with declining sales.

If you would have said "give me a timex over a smartwatch" that would have been more 2015.

 

[Oyeve]

Is a tablet really new tech at this point? I mean maybe five years ago, but today it is a saturated segment with declining sales.

If you would have said "give me a timex over a smartwatch" that would have been more 2015.

Funny. I just ditched my Gear 2 for good. Went back to my old Gruen.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I can't think of any segment of technology where I prefer the older version. I'd definitely take a tablet over a laptop these days. Touchpads are frustrating after getting used to a touchscreen IMO. I don't care about smartwatches at all though. That may be because I don't care about any watches at all. I love touchscreens in cars when they're responsive. If they're slow I'd rather have push button controls.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Back in my day, we used a stylus.

Not our fingers. Monkeys use their fingers, to point at things and pick their nose. Reminds me of when my friend Stinky use to come over with his big brother's High Society magazines and we would look at the girls. Talking about the huge amount of meat curtains there. Of course, we never saw the real thing in person back then. We would also get a 5 minute 'preview' before the Playboy channel would scramble on cable TV - and that was quite enough, you know. Of course now, you get access to everything and anything on any device. I once ran into a video, where the girl in it looked like someone Stinky and I knew. I called Stinky and told him. He said; "What?"

"Joy, don't the girl in Bang Bus video look like Joy?" I asked again.

"Who is Roy and why won't he grill with a blunderbuss? And why use a fire arm from the 17th century? I mean, it might be worth something. Don't grill on it - Roy is right." Stinky said.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Funny. I just ditched my Gear 2 for good. Went back to my old Gruen.

I will admit I don't wear my smartwatch every second like last year.

It is amazing for driving though.

 

[JEDI]

I love touchscreens in cars when they're responsive. If they're slow I'd rather have push button controls.

well the new mazda I test drove this weekend wasn't a touchscreen.
you had to use a joystick knob controller

something about safety and operating it while moving?
I thought to myself whats the diff if he's operating the knob while the car is moving? isn't that even more dangerous?

 

[Anubis]

ill give you the car one mostly because the implementation on most cars is shit

its nice for a map or a backup camera but FFS no other controls should be on it. I was in something (dodge I think) where to change the fan speed for the ac in was 2 menus deep on the screen

 

[88keys]

I'm kind of torn. I like nostalgia and most of all I think I like the looks of old electronics. Shit wasn't made to look pretty. No shiny plastics, beveled edges or surface that get scratches if your hands happen to be a little dry. Things were designed around function. Nowadays most oems will gladly choose aesthetics over function.
What I hate about old electronics is that everything weighed a ton. Back then a computer tower was a fucking computer tower! Get two of them and a piece of plywood and you had desk!... Actually you better make that three because your monitor also weighed a ton.
But then there's the OSes of back in the day. Again not made to look nice. Pixelated icons and no fancy GUI hogging up your resources. Getting updates was only a minor ordeal.
But then there's that whole 'stability' thing...

Actually I'm pretty sure I hate old technology.

 

[SamQuint]

well the new mazda I test drove this weekend wasn't a touchscreen.
you had to use a joystick knob controller

something about safety and operating it while moving?
I thought to myself whats the diff if he's operating the knob while the car is moving? isn't that even more dangerous?

I just got a 2016 Mazda CX5. Love it! The screen is a touchscreen however you have to use the joystick/wheel when the car is moving. It is only touch screen at a complete stop. Kind of annoying but you also have voice commands and a majority of the basic controls are on the steering wheel too. I thought the joystick would be a pain but I have gotten used to it and like it now.

Also now will never go without a backup camera. It is a necessity for me. I have to parallel park most of the time so it is a lifesaver.

 

[CraKaJaX]

(ALL new cars will have a display screen when backup cameras become mandatory in 2017 )

Is this for real? Our department recently got 5 brand new Ford Fusion Hybrids that have the camera. It's the first car I've driven with it, and I just DON'T trust it. I don't know if it's because I'm so used to not having one or more along the lines of 'I hope this thing is accurate'. At 28, I wouldn't say it's the dinosaur mentality either. Maybe I'm wrong? Shit, I hope so. In either case, I still find myself using the mirrors and looking over my shoulder any time I'm backing up.

 

[ImpulsE69]

It's hit or miss.

I love options and control. Today's tech is designed to be dumbed down and simplified, making you have less control and options.

I don't really care for 'all touchpad' devices. They are inprecise and buggy. I really miss slide phones with full keyboards. Screw 'slim' it means nothing. Give me a desktop or a laptop. Sure a tablet is nice for mobility, but otherwise meh.

I will say that while I hate cell phones in general, I DO love what can be done with them, such as GPS (how did I ever live w/o it). Blutooth streaming all my music from a server in my house is also a great thing. Being able to stream my video library to a hotel room TV when traveling is also nice.

The problem is, todays tech revolves too much around trying to constantly sell you things, and tell you what is good or bad for you. Google is CONSTANTLY updating apps which you would think is a good thing, until it breaks something and/or you go over your cap. I think there needs to be more control over this. Again, to me this is primary downside of advancing tech, it's more about market share and revenue grinding than actually advancing technology. Also, people who live vicariously through events by filming them just to post to facebook (look at me look at me!) also need to die in a fire.

 

[edro]

I agree with both of your examples.
Tablets suck and LCDs in cars also suck.
My car has a touch screen to turn control the climate fan speed... which is TERRIBLE.
Give me a goddamn rocker switch!

 

[TonyG]

I just wish you could get a decent smart phone with an actual key pad vs the touchscreen keyboard, well at-least outside of the blackberry, as I never really did like them. I can't type for crap on my S5 phone, and then the stupid slide crap thing that happens while trying to type and throws random crap or spaces up...give me a damn keyboard and get off my lawn! (I'll be 31 this year)

Lets not even talk about trying to rebuild the current cars with touchscreen controls in 40+ years when they are starting to become "classics."

 

[Denly]

I am with you OP. My last 3 car were Model year 2000, 2001 and 2002 because I want as little electronic as possible and manual transmission.

Other then some parking tickets I have clean driving record the last 10 years, I don't need AWD, TC, ABS, 300hp, touch screen, wifi, 20" rim, auto climate control, power seats, BT, rain sensor, auto drive light, backup cam, backup sensor, LED with Xeon HD(oh boy those are annoying) and so on(my gf drive a rover, I know all those things).

My check list on used car hunt are under 200hp, manual, low mileage, no rust, power windows and leather. I don't need/want anything else.

Hack, my bicycle is a single speed with only 1 brake.

 

[Insomniator]

I much prefer my phone or laptop over a tablet still. I mean, I'd certainly go for a Surface Pro 4 given 1500 bucks, but I still consider that more laptop than tablet.

If the infotainment systems in cars weren't already 3 years outdated by the time they were released maybe they'd be useful. Both Ford Sync and whatever BMW calls their systems are complete jokes. The touch screen performance is worse than first gen android phones, and the systems as a whole are about as slow as well.

My phone connected via Bluetooth is way better and faster than anything built in. It connects automatically and I can control Pandora with steering wheel buttons. All I need.

 

[ControlD]

Yeah, I still prefer buttons and knobs in my cars as well. I can adjust pretty much anything in my 2006 Mazda without taking my eyes off the road. I test drove a Focus ST a couple of weeks ago and everything was touch controlled basically. Maybe you can use voice commands for most of that stuff? Still, I like tactile feedback and not needing to look at a screen to make adjustments.

 

[lxskllr]

Cars, I like everything old. I don't want power anything. I have no use for a tablet since I got a smart phone. Overall, I'm pretty bored with tech. I need to replace my desktop I built in 06, but that's only cause the mb is going up. Otherwise, it does what I want. I have no use for any other gadget.

 

[Oyeve]

I will admit I don't wear my smartwatch every second like last year.

It is amazing for driving though.

Well, since I got my LGv10 and use it as my daily driver I just dont see the point in the Gear 2. Hell, I may sell that, the Note 4 and the Gear VR I have as they only work with the Note 4. Unless I can find a way to squeeze the lgv10 in the VR.

 

[Imp]

I prefer low-tech just so I have fewer power cords, adapters, other bullshit to deal with. Actually, it's a less shit period approach. Life too filled with useless garbage. Not about money at all, it's just the physical crap I need to find a place to store.

Obvious exception is obvious: desktop (huge case) over laptop.

 

[edro]

I recently got a set of bluetooth headphones... and I love them!

 

[BurnItDwn]

Laptops, meh, Give me a desktop.


Laptops are flimsy, have terrible heat handling, very limmited expansion and storage slots, they are so tiny. I want at a minimum a large Mid tower, or an average sized Full Tower ATX case with a big beefy power supply and a minimum of 2 GPU slots as well as a couple of Legacy PCI slos as well as lots of SATA ports and memory slots. It helps to have at least 4 or 6 USB ports as well and gigabit ethernet, or dual gigabit ethernet.

Laptops have crap GPUs, crap CPUs, crap disk, crap keyboard, crap mouse, and crap displays. They are clearly better than tablets, but, they are far inferior to desktops.

 

[MarkXIX]

Is this for real? Our department recently got 5 brand new Ford Fusion Hybrids that have the camera. It's the first car I've driven with it, and I just DON'T trust it. I don't know if it's because I'm so used to not having one or more along the lines of 'I hope this thing is accurate'. At 28, I wouldn't say it's the dinosaur mentality either. Maybe I'm wrong? Shit, I hope so. In either case, I still find myself using the mirrors and looking over my shoulder any time I'm backing up.

I drive a Fusion and it's the first car I have owned with a backup camera. At first I was wary of it too, but I finally rationalized that some engineers probably spent a lot of time backing into shit over and over again while adjusting the camera, software, etc., until it was just right. Even then, I'm guessing they factored in the "average American" factor to avoid lawsuits from fat, stupid people.

Bottom line, I've grown more comfortable in trusting what I see on the screen now, thought it still isn't a full replacement for situational awareness and having your head on a swivel.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Laptops, meh, Give me a desktop.

Desktop+tablet > Laptop

 

[xcas]

Well I'm typing this on a 2005 laptop with Windows XP pro and an Intel Centrino Duo.
I mean not by choice, my non-prehistoric rig is down right now, but I'd be lying if I said that Windows bootup sound didn't stir something in me.