Fix to MyFord Touch problems is a user upgrade via USB key
On the surface, it’s a black eye: The 2010 MyFord Touch touchscreen enhancement to Ford Sync was hard to use. Ford interface designers ignored user feedback, common sense, or both. Now, suitably chastened, Ford is canada goose outlet uk sale releasing a patch to MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch that unclutters the interface, enlarges the fonts, and improves map screens. Because it’s canada goose outlet in usa just a canada goose clearance software patch, there’s no need for a radio head unit replacement or even a trip to the dealer. Just plug in the 8GB USB key and you’ve got MyFord Touch 2.0 in your car. Ford with a straight face calls canadian goose jacket it a upgrade. Touch puts access to key information in four quadrants of an 8 inch touchscreen: phone, navigation, entertainment, canada goose outlet reviews and climate control. Tap the corner tab to access that function. Most of the information can be activated through Ford Sync’s voice controls, if you know the correct words. Users found the interface too daunting and Consumer Reports chimed in with reviews that dinged Ford. Power Initial Quality Survey rankings. The same holds for the similar MyLincoln Touch interface. cheap canada goose Our 2010 Lincoln MKX reviewnoted problems such as too small fonts; Ford’s lame response was that the font size met industry standards. Privately, one Ford executive who didn’t work directly on the project said, “We brought MyFord Touch out too soon.”
Over the last couple weeks, Ford held a series of background and then public press briefings that started off talking about all the enhancements coming for MyFord Touch: the making a good product even better razzle dazzle. About 10 minutes canada goose black friday sale into the pitch Ford dropped the happy talk and started using “fixes” in addition to “enhancements.” The fonts get bigger and the four corner tabs (phone, navi, entertainment, climate control) only have one line of info. The clock is now by itself in a tab at the top and the font is larger. In the first version of MyFord Touch, when you weren’t in the navigation Canada Goose Online mode (pictured above), Ford put a next turn arrow on the navigation tab, but it was so small as to be unseen by anyone without 20/20 vision. Now it’s a larger arrow. If an entertainment button has multiple choices (FM presets 1, 2 and 3), https://www.buchholz-net.de there are now three very small (Ford may get feedback on this) “LEDs” indicating which preset you’ve chosen. AM and FM canada goose outlet radio are now separate buttons. Many canada goose outlet buttons are bigger. Earlier Ford fixed Sync so you could say “iPod” rather than the numbing phrase “user device.”
Ford also switched to Navteq maps for its SD card based navigation software. In the past, Navteq data had the reputation as the gold standard and priced accordingly. Ford now canada goose outlet nyc says all map canada goose clearance sale software has improved and Navteq is now “competitive” on cost. Intersection views are improved and close up turn views include approximations of large buildings and other landmarks. The new map data is why the quarter million owners will be getting (early 2012) a USB stick that’s 8GB. There aren’t that many fixes in canada goose outlet store the rest of MyFord Touch.
Ford might canada goose outlet sale still have a problem with the capacitive touch sliders on its Lincoln models with MyLincoln Touch. Rather than old fashioned volume knobs that everyone uk canada goose outlet already knows how to use, MyLincoln Touch opted for sliders low in the center stack. Swipe your finger across the strip, it lights up, and the volume or fan goes up. If you’ve used an iPod or iPhone music player, you’ve used a fingertip slider. Press it right in the middle and you get 50% volume or fan speed. Problem is, what demos so well in the showroom can be a horror show on the highway it canada goose outlet canada the roads aren’t glass smooth (see Dumb and Dumber? Lincoln’s Capacitive Touch Volume, Fan Sliders). Your finger bounces around and you don’t get the buy canada goose jacket volume you want.
Ford says it has widened the landing area for your fingers. The real solution may canada goose black friday sale be to ditch cool for useful and return to big, grippy rotary knobs. For now, Ford says it canada goose outlet shop hasn’t gotten a lot of negative user feedback. This on the same week the former Penn State assistant says he only showered with the boys.
In the short term, Ford messed up and the 8GB upgrade key is Ford’s make good. The new version of the map software alone typically costs $150 $200. But more importantly, Ford Sync and MyFord Touch are the wave of the future. Sync and MyFord Touch are embedded software that can be quickly revised (a year is quick in automotive timeframes). Ford gives users two upgrade options to improve MyFord Touch: do it yourself via the USB key or let the dealer do it. Ford passed on the third option, an over the air update via cellphone. That would work if Ford had in car telematics data modems but a) this would be a huge download and b) the Ford Sync telematics connection is the owner’s cellphone. Imagine the owner reaction to the carrier surcharge if they Canada Goose Coats On Sale don’t have an unlimited data plan.
Others are following Ford’s lead with the Sync/MyFord Touch concept, most canada goose outlet parka recently Cadillac with CUE (Cadillac User Experience) starting with the new Cadillac XTS and Toyota with Entune.