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.

I don't know where the author got their information, but they name Minis as one company doing this, and it's absolutely not the case. I just checked to be sure, and the 2026 minis have the same 5-button, one touchscreen setup as the 2025s. My 2020 mini has 15+ physical buttons and toggles.

I'd like to be able to get touchpads with physical buttons on laptops. Very few manufacturers do them, especially if you want three.

I’m fine with the phone as is, but vehicles need tactile control panels.

As for tablets, I just buy a keyboard case that folds open and closed like a laptop. That screen will twist around and lay flat to use as a proper tablet, if need be.

I don’t really want to sacrifice screen space on either mobile device, to buttons.

That article reads like it was AI written.

Unfortunately the buttons are likely still controlled by the central computer rather than having standalone functionality.

When I was a kid if I wanted to turn off the radio I simply hit the "off" button.

Now in my Subaru when I start the car I have to wait for it to wake fully up, while it could be blasting out music very loud (think: if the music when I turned off the vehicle was softer, but now a commercial is the very opposite of soft) until pressing the off button finally thinks through all the ramifications of what it means (in the context of prioritization in relation to other tasks) to actually turn the sound "off".

I love my car but I definitely prefer the older approach when off = "off".

So button vs. touchscreen is only part of the underlying set of issues related to computerization and, for some vehicles, the increasing trend towards SAAS.

Fuck yeah: Buttons! Keyboards, expandable storage, and swappable batteries next please. I miss being able to accurately touch type on my phone without looking.

Virtual keyboards have never been great and the mainstream ones are getting enshittified more and more (Heliboard is OK with some minor modification, but it's open source).

Good, they should've never gone away in the first place.

Great. Now do it with phones too. I don't want to turn the screen on and look where the media controls are just to skip songs

The push to re-physicalize interfaces has even led to an unexpected side gig for Dr. Plotnick, the academic authority on buttons. Companies are tapping her to consult on how to improve their physical controls.

Well played.

Finally! I was hoping to see some better haptic feedback systems but this is great too