Following Dr. Z's keynote here at CES, Mercedes-Benz showed off the latest iteration of its telematics and infotainment system, mBrace2.
The system simply expands and enhances what M-B's system has been doing for the last few years, integrating Facebook, Google Point of Interest searches and now Google Street View into the current COMAND interface.
There's a full-scale browser controlled by the central COMAND knob, but as you can see in the video after the jump, a combination of spotty data access (the CES show floor needs its own spectrum) and some oddly chosen user interface decisions makes for a rather clunky experience.
Data issues aside, the biggest problem is using the outmoded concept of a pointer to select things on the screen. That's fine for PCs, but using a five-way controller to pan and click around a page is infuriatingly frustrating. Here's hoping M-B irons out the kinks before mBrace2 arrives on the all-new SL and the rest of the 2013 Mercedes-Benz lineup.
The system simply expands and enhances what M-B's system has been doing for the last few years, integrating Facebook, Google Point of Interest searches and now Google Street View into the current COMAND interface.
There's a full-scale browser controlled by the central COMAND knob, but as you can see in the video after the jump, a combination of spotty data access (the CES show floor needs its own spectrum) and some oddly chosen user interface decisions makes for a rather clunky experience.
Data issues aside, the biggest problem is using the outmoded concept of a pointer to select things on the screen. That's fine for PCs, but using a five-way controller to pan and click around a page is infuriatingly frustrating. Here's hoping M-B irons out the kinks before mBrace2 arrives on the all-new SL and the rest of the 2013 Mercedes-Benz lineup.
Sign in to post
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Continue