just bought an MDX

[ccjung]

At first, I hated iDrive.

I was used to the multitude of buttons that my 05 TL had, loved the navigation system because of the touchscreen, and never used the voice command, except to show someone a "trick". most of the time tho, my girlfriend was putting in the navigation for me anyways (its amazing how quick she is with POIs).

At first, I was disappointed with iDrive. Now I'm in love with it. Its jog dial method of input isnt very elegant, but it keeps your hand on the wheel, and your eyes (for the most part) on the road. hearing that the MDX lacks the touchscreen feature, and resorts to voice command (not a favorite of mine, im tactile) and their bizzare lookng jog dial, I see where BMW went when they decided to go with iDrive versus other interfaces.

It is much less capable (no touchscreen, limited POI, etc), but more simple to use, and real life use of navi (unless your the type that just likes to know distances to places) is limited to few occasions.

Like X5FX said, iDrive is in the natural position for your hand. I have definately come to like it alot more than initially. The killer combo would be touchscreen (for inputting text, etc) and idrive.

The best comparison (save it for another thread) is that of Windows mobile vs. iphone. I have been a winmo user for 5 years, and love it. However, since going to the iphone, i really havent looked back. When designing interfaces, the design teams really have to look at how the product will be used by everyday people. it really looks like BMW is headed the right direction with iDrive. Voice recognition will have amazing impact in the future, but as of right now, i still feel its very limited, both in capability and the users confidence in its accuracy.

My 0.02

Chris