Sync 4A Update Overview from Ford - Larger Apple CarPlay Android Auto interface, added dial functionality & more

[4sallypat]

How in the hell could they have missed adding the camera button? Who is in charge over there? Are they programming from an isolated underground bunker?

Question for the camera activation - how many soft key presses are needed to turn on the cameras (360) on the MME ?

I ask because my wife's MME is being built next month.

(I do have the Lightning and it requires 2 presses to turn on the cameras which is a pain because the turning radius sucks).

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[sotek2345]

Question for the camera activation - how many soft key presses are needed to turn on the cameras (360) on the MME ?

I ask because my wife's MME is being built next month.

(I do have the Lightning and it requires 2 presses to turn on the cameras which is a pain because the turning radius sucks).

It is the exact same setup as the Lightning

 

[sotek2345]

This is totally it.

Wonder if the cluster screen has any updates..

Next question - when can we expect to get this. I am putting $$ on April 2023.

 

[Sam2084]

How in the hell could they have missed adding the camera button? Who is in charge over there? Are they programming from an isolated underground bunker?

The stupid thing is we already have a hardbutton (Park Assist) that can easily be used to toggle cameras. It should take very little time to program that.

 

[scoopman]

For a brief moment, I scanned the headline from this post and got very excited, and was about to wheel out Toto (my FDRS cart) to flash this .... until I realized that this was probably yet another Ford department jumping the gun by 6 months and posting press releases and help videos and CEO swagger (I think Farley even called it like a new iOS UI release).

Hopefully the delay means they're doing QA on it -- maybe this will be an FDRS stocking-stuffer, if not a Black Friday special?

Toto, the FDRS cart.

 

[OldBlueMME]

I received this from a friend the other day, similar to what we’ve seen in the previous teaser videos but a communication that should be going out to people shortly I believe. It may be live online or from other sources, but this was the first I saw it!

It details out some of the new functionality and design changes coming to the Mach-E interface. Larger CarPlay screen real estate. Added functionality of the volume knob. Changes to top bar for clarity and ease of use.

This may be a dumb question, but how is the dial going to know what you are trying to adjust. Radio volume, seat temp or cabin temp?

 

[SprManKalEl]

I don't need a bigger portion of the screen to be CarPlay. What I need is the way my Hyundai did CarPlay while in motion. I could see ALL my playlist and all my artists in their respective sections. I tap on artists and I get a scroll of all my artists and, to the right, I could tap A-Z and it would show me the alphabet then I could tap S and see those artists. So much easier to pick what I wanted. Siri stinks trying to get the exact music I want. Just because I recently added something does not mean it is all I want to listen to.

 

[sukhoi_584th]

Does anyone actually use Alexa? I would love to see some usage statistics on that. I would bet below 10% have it set up and actively use it. I have to imagine that Amazon is paying Ford to have it there.

With the way Amazon is slashing the Alexa division budget maybe we'll get lucky and they'll remove it from the MME.

This may be a dumb question, but how is the dial going to know what you are trying to adjust. Radio volume, seat temp or cabin temp?

Presumably you'll still need to hit the screen once to get the slider to appear, and then use the knob to adjust the slider.

 

[scoopman]

This may be a dumb question, but how is the dial going to know what you are trying to adjust. Radio volume, seat temp or cabin temp?

Not a dumb question at all -- and the reason why I'm not a huge fan of this update. You have to press one touch tap target on the screen to change the "modality" of the dial, then you have to move your fingers over to the dial. Completely not going to be easier. Want to change the temperature? well press the temperature area, then you can look down again and find the knob, or you could just keep your fingers where they were like you do now and slide the temp slider.

Circle in the middle of the knob needs to be some kind of toggle for the modality of the dial, or else this isn't a less-distracting, more pleasant experience. eg if you long-pressed where the power button is now to change temporarily from volume to HVAC, this UI would make more sense.

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

At least it's slightly quicker to access the camera now

I do agree that replacing the Alexa icon with a camera button would be great. I'm probably one of a small minority who actually did set up and uses Alexa in their MME, and I don't see the point of having an icon there. I always activate it with the wake word like every other Alexa device.

The expanded CarPlay window and compressed settings list are very welcome improvements.

 

[scoopman]

With the way Amazon is slashing the Alexa division budget maybe we'll get lucky and they'll remove it from the MME.

Presumably you'll still need to hit the screen once to get the slider to appear, and then use the knob to adjust the slider.

This will be the one thing left, because Amazon and Ford share revenue in some way for the confusing premium subscription revenue they try and get you to buy. I bet distro of Alexa is free and not paid, Ford and Amazon believe it's a benefit for their mutual customers, and they make money the more that are bamboozled into paying for the premium Alexa streaming features.

 

[Jim_In_Mass]

With the way Amazon is slashing the Alexa division budget maybe we'll get lucky and they'll remove it from the MME.

Maybe Ford could hire some of the former Alexa SW engineers?
Not for "improved Alexa integration", but just general Sync 4A improvements....

 

[sotek2345]

This will be the one thing left, because Amazon and Ford share revenue in some way for the confusing premium subscription revenue they try and get you to buy. I bet distro of Alexa is free and not paid, Ford and Amazon believe it's a benefit for their mutual customers, and they make money the more that are bamboozled into paying for the premium Alexa streaming features.

I have yet to see, or even think of, any possible benefit from Alexa in our vehicles. At best, it just slows the operating system down.

 

[hbund216]

They continue to double down on the dial instead of get rid of it. It looks terrible and is a redundant control as a volume control. On top of that it took the place of 2-4 soft buttons. Now they are using it as a way to adjust other things. From what I saw, one has to press a soft button (like a seat heater) and then use the dial to adjust. That's a two step process using two interfaces. Why not just design an improved interface or better yet improve/expand the voice command feature. I like that I can set the AC temp with voice but why not set the fan speed too!

Whoever put the dial there is stuck in the old days and should be removed from the project.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

and so simple to add.

If it was simple to add, they'd have done so already.

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