UX degradation with Karoo 2?
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Recently I've updated to Karoo 2, which is supposed to be better than Karoo 1, but I don't feel that way. Yep, its smaller and lighter, new display ratio seems to be more useful. It's still the best computer I've ever had and it gives me a lot of freedom. Nevertheless I'm disappointed with some software changes and want to share some concerns.
1. Brightness slider. Where is it that wonderful gesture from Karoo 1 when I can blindly slide my finger on top edge of screen and adjust brightess? That was one simple gesture. Now I have to make three of them: swipe down to open notification panel, swipe down again to show extended panel, slide the brightness slider (and sometimes guess where is it, if the brigthness is on minimum and nothing's visible because of daylight).
2. Switching from an app to the main (ride?) app. I often use OsmAnd to get some details of my route. On Karoo 1 the only thing I have to do to return to the ride app is a tap on status bar. It takes a split second. On the new device I need to hold D button for 3 seconds (which isn't easy on a winter trail or off-road), press it again to return to home screen, pick a profile and tap on it. I think that's a lot of efforts. Also the app switcher doesn't show the main app. I read FAQ but didn't find new simple way to quickly return to the main app. Does it exists?
3. Map page with one row of data feels small now. It seems that on new Karoo 2 I see less of map. May be that's because of new aspect ratio. May be that's because of dead space between data row and map block (screenshot). Yes, I understand that map page is using the same widgets as data pages, but that empty space is annoyed me:-) It could be used to show more of map. Or another feature could be realized, which I've been dreaming about since buying of Karoo 1 - option to set vertical offset of my position marker. In other words, how much of the map behind me should be visible. Now the device uses 50% of screen to show map in front of me and 50% of map behind me. I don't know about other users, but I rarely need to see a part of map, which I've already passed by, and I want to see more of the future route. I'd like to have that ratio about 80%/20%. Or set it by myself. For instance, I unlock map, move it to place position marker about 20% from bottom edge. When I lock screen again, the app remembers that vertical offset and moves map keeping the same offset of the marker. If I tap on "my position" button, offset resets to its default position (50%).
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I would like to respond very briefly by adding that I fully agree.
Why not ask Hammerhead users what we as users would like to see or change about the GPS?
You cannot meet all expectations but it would give an overview of what is expected of the device by the majority.
Although I have to admit that when it comes to GPS accuracy, few devices can match it. Fantastic! -
#1 seems like a great addition. I only have experience with the Karoo 2.
Perhaps this method was removed, as sliding horizontally over the screen could be confusing because the location of the slide gesture would make the difference between switching screens and changing the brightness.#3 I agree with you on the amount of dead space between the data row and the map. I hope this will be fixed in a future update!
Also the marker position can be improved indeed. It should not center on the map, a 80/20 or 66/33 ratio makes more sense. -
Hey guys! Thanks for all of the feedback. We do take that seriously- many of our best ideas come from the community and many of the changes we make are user driven!
There are definitely differences between how some functions work on the K1 and K2. Some of that is hardware driven - the K2 has 1 less button and a different display aspect ratio. Some of it is the additional interfaces and features that the K2 has, or will get later.
The suggestions you make are solid. If we hear similar suggestions often enough, and they are things we can implement, they move up the priority list, and potentially implemented! It’s pretty cool for the community to have a hand to n what we do next!
To that point, we’ve had lots of feedback about adding some more MTB centric features. I can’t say exactly what yet, but we have something in the works! We’ve also added Xert as a partner and rolled out their app n our new app store. We have plans to bring more new partnerships and apps in the future!
Thanks again for the suggestions!
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