Physical Controls for the Digital Dash, Part 3

After careful thought and consideration (Yes, I'm serious.) I've decided to retire my gamepad side-arm controller in favor of my original scheme of using a Flic to control app access on the Digital Dash.  There are a couple of reasons for that:

1) The Flic is simply more reliable and easier to use.  It doesn't require recharging, connects automatically, and handles it's sleep mode more elegantly.  It also responds more quickly than the gamepad.

2) Many of the functions that the gamepad controls are either no longer necessary or are otherwise handled.  I don't need to download A-GPS data since I'm using the "Device Only" mode for GPS and I've brought the external temperature reading to the main screen, eliminating the need to pull up the Weather Channel app just to get that information.  And, of course, by installing a Flic dedicated to music control, I no longer need those functions on the gamepad.

3)  Finally, on our last few drives I kept closer track of just exactly how I was interacting with the system.  By far, the thing I did most often was to switch over to Google Maps to see the next turn information.  And that didn't happen very often.  I used to switch over more often to see the ETA information, but since bringing that to the main screen as well, it's available without any interaction.  The second most common thing was to check MyRadar to see incoming weather, but again, that was relatively rare.  Other things, such as switching music sources or setting a navigation destination simply didn't happen during the drive; I tended to do that at the beginning of a trip and never needed to change it en-route.

Taking all that into account, I decided to set up a second "App Control" Flic with the following functions.

When the main screen is showing:

• Short Click - Launch Google Maps
• Long Click - Launch MyRadar
• Double Click - Launch GasBuddy
  
  

When on any screen EXCEPT the main screen:

• Short Click - Return to the main screen

When on the Google Maps screen:

• Long Click - Toggle Voice Navigation Guidance on or off

That seems like a pretty short list, but it represents all the things I'm likely to do while driving.  Of course, if I need to I can map a few other functions to the button, either by manipulating profiles (adding a triple click, for example) or by taking more contexts into account (such as a double click launching the navigation panel only when the Maps screen is showing).  I also have three other Flics that I could dedicate to controlling certain subsystems.

Time will tell what, if any, changes need to be made.