Update 4.1.2 Thoughts, Impressions and Comments

Mach_Enrique

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Hi Forum Folks! This week 4.1.2 updated on my 2021 GT (which I think makes it job 2?) and I am not EA. Most unexpected but thought I would drop some impressions. I looked for a thread to post thoughts and impressions but I did not find any other than a few threads on specific topics, so I thought I’d start one.

First I would have to say I’m still very sorry and sympathetic for any MachE owners out there who cannot get it software updates, frunk buttons, etc.

Impressions So Far:

  • Good use of top of screen space especially now with one touch camera button. Used this already many times in last few days.
  • I miss the car icon for the settings and drive mode. The standard software icon with ”slider buttons in a circle” is not quite intuitive for drive modes like the car that pulled forward. Also it is smaller and a bit hard to touch on first try when car is moving without anchoring your hand to the screen to neutralize bouncing.
  • New drive mode screen is cooler and easier to use. It’s good looking and intuitive to find what you need.
  • I think we lost ability to shrink/grow main screen above the “cards” at the bottom. Seems like we are in perma big screen on mode now. I did use smaller screen with bigger cards sometimes but the bigger main area full time seems even bigger so net plus (edit: after a week really like the bigger app area and smaller cards at bottom).
  • Noticed overall that buttons and touch points are smaller. This is a pain as the MachE is a bit bumpy and bigger icons and touch points on the screen help you not “miss” the touch due to bumps on the first try. I went through a lot of screens today and there is way too much space wasted with small icons (i.e. home screen)...use the space to make bigger icons for easier "touch it right on the first try" odds.
  • They moved the car play icon to the top screen and not a card on the bottom…easy to miss but like it there
  • They moved the charging screen button and a few items to the “home” screen (home icon on top)…took a minute to find. A few other things are now on the Home Screen too.
  • The new use of the knob is brilliant. I always liked the knob before. Now you can adjust many things with the knob like heat and fan levels. Takes less time of eyes off road while adjusting and removes the challenge of slider moves when car is on a rougher and bouncy road. This may be my favorite change.
Ok that’s it for quick first impressions. Once you get over the “someone moved my cheese” feeling, I think the improvements are a net plus. I hope all of you get this update soon as possible and continue to find joy driving your MachE every day like I do.
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siddhantnigam

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Hi Forum Folks! This week 4.1.2 updated on my 2021 GT (which I think makes it job 2?) and I am not EA. Most unexpected but thought I would drop some impressions. I looked for a thread to post thoughts and impressions but I did not find any other than a few threads on specific topics, so I thought I’d start one.

First I would have to say I’m still very sorry and sympathetic for any MachE owners out there who cannot get it software updates, frunk buttons, etc.

Impressions So Far:

  • Good use of top of screen space especially now with one touch camera button. Used this already many times in last few days.
  • I miss the car icon for the settings and drive mode. The standard software icon with ”slider buttons in a circle” is not quite intuitive for drive modes like the car that pulled forward. Also it is smaller and a bit hard to touch on first try when car is moving without anchoring your hand to the screen to neutralize bouncing.
  • New drive mode screen is cooler and easier to use. It’s good looking and intuitive to find what you need.
  • I think we lost ability to shrink/grow main screen above the “cards” at the bottom. Seems like we are in perma big screen on mode now. I did use smaller screen with bigger cards sometimes but the bigger main area full time seems even bigger so net plus I think.
  • Noticed overall that buttons and touch points seem smaller, especially in car play. This is a pain as the MachE is a bit bumpy and bigger icons and touch points on the screen help you not “miss” the touch due to bumps on the first try.
  • They moved the car play icon to the top screen and not a card on the bottom…easy to miss but like it there
  • They moved the charging screen button and a few items to the “home” screen (home icon on top)…took a minute to find. A few other things are now on the Home Screen too.
  • The new use of the knob is brilliant. I always liked the knob before. Now you can adjust many things with the knob like heat and fan levels. Takes less time of eyes off road while adjusting and removes the challenge of slider moves when car is on a rougher and bouncy road. This may be my favorite change.
Ok that’s it for quick first impressions. Once you get over the “someone moved my cheese” feeling, I think the improvements are a net plus. I hope all of you get this update soon as possible and continue to find joy driving your MachE every day like I do.
I got the software drop yesterday on my 2022 MME route 1. The first impression was, why does my UI look ages old or like a debug version of UI. Replacing the car icon with three other icons especially looks trivial. They did rearrange options for quick access but the could’ve done better job. I also liked the ability to resize cards coz its a big screen and I liked to see how trip is going while driving. I liked it how they changed the drive modes screen. I expected the UI to be faster(eg: changing personal profiles) but I didn’t see improvements. The change in knob is awesome. Also, when you go to hvac settings to turn on heat, I was not able to slide down on screen to bring back the main screen like I used to do earlier. I had to hit the button again. Overall I think it should have been better looking at various competitors in EV domain.
 
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Mach_Enrique

Mach_Enrique

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I got the software drop yesterday on my 2022 MME route 1. The first impression was, why does my UI look ages old or like a debug version of UI. Replacing the car icon with three other icons especially looks trivial. T
After reading this I realized that those top three icons were bugging me but was not sure why..but you hit it...its like they published without the final graphics and those were the place holders. Those three gray dot buttons for "home" "settings" "camera" do not go along at all with the look/feel (i.e. why not leave the cool car icon for settings instead of a ages old standard icon).

Send those icons back to the graphics art department. I love the use of that top row (quick access without eyes moving far from road sight lines...but they just don't look like they go with the rest of the UI).
Ford Mustang Mach-E Update 4.1.2 Thoughts, Impressions and Comments buttons.JPG
 
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GrayWolf

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Hi Forum Folks! This week 4.1.2 updated on my 2021 GT (which I think makes it job 2?) and I am not EA.
*looks at his 2021 GT (that IS in the EA and is apparently stuck on 3.5.4.2) and sighs*

Gotta love the consistency that Ford shows in how it pushes its updates out. That said - thanks for sharing your experience and glad that you're getting to enjoy the update!
 


KevinS

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After reading this I realized that those top three icons were bugging me but was not sure why..but you hit it...its like they published without the final graphics and those were the place holders. Those three gray dot buttons for "home" "settings" "camera" do not go along at all with the look/feel (i.e. why not leave the cool car icon for settings instead of a ages old standard icon).

Send those icons back to the graphics art department. I love the use of that top row (quick access without eyes moving far from road sight lines...but they just don't look like they go with the rest of the UI).
The poor contrast between the blue and white is a problem. And hell, make the center one a gear icon as is seem in 5 million UI decisions to indicate preferences.
 

Mirak

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It seems that the two changes we asked for on this forum - multifunction knob and one-touch cams - are very popular. And the changes we didn’t ask for… not so much. The designers should spend more time here.
 

Logal727

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After reading this I realized that those top three icons were bugging me but was not sure why..but you hit it...its like they published without the final graphics and those were the place holders. Those three gray dot buttons for "home" "settings" "camera" do not go along at all with the look/feel (i.e. why not leave the cool car icon for settings instead of a ages old standard icon).

Send those icons back to the graphics art department. I love the use of that top row (quick access without eyes moving far from road sight lines...but they just don't look like they go with the rest of the UI).
Ford Mustang Mach-E Update 4.1.2 Thoughts, Impressions and Comments buttons.JPG
They definitely look like something from a basic Android device from 2016
 

Gullwingdmc

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I miss the car icon for the settings and drive mode. The standard software icon with ”slider buttons in a circle” is not quite intuitive for drive modes like the car that pulled forward.
I think we lost ability to shrink/grow main screen above the “cards” at the bottom.
The first impression was, why does my UI look ages old or like a debug version of UI.
After reading this I realized that those top three icons were bugging me but was not sure why..but you hit it...its like they published without the final graphics and those were the place holders. Those three gray dot buttons for "home" "settings" "camera" do not go along at all with the look/feel (i.e. why not leave the cool car icon for settings instead of a ages old standard icon).

Send those icons back to the graphics art department. I love the use of that top row (quick access without eyes moving far from road sight lines...but they just don't look like they go with the rest of the UI).
Ford Mustang Mach-E Update 4.1.2 Thoughts, Impressions and Comments buttons.JPG
Thank you! Yes to all of this. I feel like for every good thing they added to this update (knob functionally & settings simplification) they made an equal number of things worse (no car icon/bad buttons & no small app/big cards).

The icons at the top look like they came out of Microsoft Word Clip Art and they are the worn color compared to every other button on the screen. The loss of the larger tiles at the bottom seems tobe an after thought as they didn’t redesign any of the small tiles to show useful data. particularly tire pressure. Why does it just say PSI? That is only needed when you are referencing numbers that are now no longer visible.

The other thing that I have already seen people completely miss is the Trunk/Charge Port/Frunk buttons. They are now so small and shoved off in the coroner of a functionally useless picture of the car. Make that car pic a side profile and give me touch zones for the 3 parts of the car.

It seems like Ford has 15 entry level designers working on this, and no lead keeping it cohesive. All of this might be ok if they made the UI snappier or fixed the bugs (guest profile, CarPlay) but early reports are that they did neither. I would say this isn’t an upgrade, at best it’s a side step.
 

Just Lurking

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Those new icons are hideous! They look like placeholder icons that somebody forgot to swap out for the real thing. It's such a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but if those are on purpose I see it as a microcosm of how Ford treats software. Not great. :/
 

option

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@Ford Motor Company please do something about the icons. They really do like they're coming from website that offers free basic vector icons. Please hire a graphics designer or at least pay to get some licenses for icons, I don't know. Also why some icons are colored and some still grey? I really liked the previous colors - most of the UI txt was black/grey on day mode. If you don't want to go back maybe add an option for greyscale only txt/icons?

As for the fonts. Please keep the size consistent, at least on main screen. When temperature is OFF the font is ridiculously big (and bold?) compared to A/C and Auto sitting right next to it (which are on the smaller size).

On a more positive note, the UI is so much faster (lag is still there but not noticeable), the settings that fit in one page is a great change and the wheel functionality is really what should have been done from the beginning so kudos.
 
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Mach_Enrique

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It rained a lot this weekend. So I made a video.
Thanks and great video! Seems consensus forming on changes. Have not noted more snappiness but I keep low expectations as every sync touch screen I have used (back to 2011 Edge) has been disappointingly sluggish. I suppose it is too costly to ever put a chipset in that is “new iPad snappy” in feel. But am not unsatisfied with speed of the MachE screen In my daily use. It could be a lot worse.
 

WPJoe

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Agree with everything said above.
But for me biggest issue is the size of the icons.
Hitting small icons while driving is difficult and potentially dangerous.
Seems to me like an obvious UI thing for car engineers that the key icons need to be larger, not smaller.
 

Mr. Mach-E

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So I had my Mach E is for software update service in February and my car did not receive the 4.1.2 update? How long do I have to wait? I got my vehicle in March 2021. Is it Last In First Out?
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