As a software engineer, I look into computer systems very carefully than the normal user....and also as a software engineer, i am utterly ashamed of the group incharge of developing the info/media/navigation system in the XJ

what a bloody piece of crap system!!!!!!!!!

Its so slow, so annoying, so non-user friendly. I dont understand how this passed any kind of QA or usability testing. I dont understand how any of the higher ups used this system and deemed it to be "ok" to presented to the public. I think whoever designed the user experience should be fired and banned from ever working anywhere again. Same goes for the person who overlooked all the lagging.

1) Why is the "My Music" media drive limited to only 10 cds? why does it behave as a virtual cd changer and not like an actual media HD like it is on ALL other cars ive used. Why is it that I cant delete certain songs?

2) Why does it require 500 steps to input my destination via voice command? My G37 takes 5-6 steps MAXIMUM. The XJ required me to say: navigation, address, go to, change state, pick state, pick city, pick number, calculate route. Why so many steps????

3) Why do i have to dig deep through the navigation system to get the turn list? that list is super important, especially while im driving....it should be no more than 2 buttons away (as compared to my G37)

4) why is the system SOOOOOOO slow?

Heres a bonus rant I have:
Why does the sunroof require a 2 time press? why does it close to a vent position, and then require me to close it again? why cant it just close, and then open to a vent if I request.......JUST LIKE ALL OTHER SUNROOFS

I am strongly considering giving someone at Jaguar a call about this. I understand they may have not developed a system, but at least I can then find out what 3rd party company did.

 

I feel alot of the same frustrations. And I could add a few more inane examples too. However, I am so happy with everything else about the car, from the beautiful design, inside and out, to its great handling and performance, that I'm willing to overlook the issues with the electronics. At least for now

 

You really do need to make Jaguar aware of your views on the system and the car. XF owners have complained about the sat-nav too. Unless they get customer feedback things tend to stay the same.

 

yeah I had similar issues in my XF....but it wasnt as bad as this

thankfully once i start driving, i forget about my issues with a smile on my face.

Im going to find someone to call, maybe I can even contract with them and develop a new system for them!

 

My guess is because they didn't have standarization. All these millions of steps to get to simple tasks seem to me a problem with database design. If they would run into a feature they would have to implement, it's just a matter of creating one more field on the database. This causes a whole lot of problems when it's time to implement all those fields into a user interface.

I've mentioned before, Jaguar should have outsourced their infotainment cluster to either a Japanese company or even to apple (LOL).

But no... they decided to use some Indian engineers, that even though I'm sure are very talented, can't seem to understand that in countries that actually have roads and rules, and where people are a lot more brain numbed in traffic than in India for example, they need a fast, easy to use and understand interface.

Good times when cars had just a dial radio, 4 speeds, 3 pedals and no cup holders.

 

last night i noticed I can short cut some of the voice commands.

instead of saying "navigation" and then saying "go to" and then saying "address" (3 steps)........i can simply say "navigation go to address" in 1 shot and it will understand it.

Actually i dont think its a bad DB design, just poop implimentation. For example, it defaults to search for something in w/e state you're currently in. I understood this as adding a layer of simplicity...because it makes sense most of the time you want to look up something in the state you're currently in...however if you want to locate something in a different state, thats 2 additional steps.

the normal way would be to just ask for the state you want each time.

 

You gotta let Jaguar know.. how, i have no idea.. Supposedly Jaguar listens to customer feedback - that's why the newer XJ key-fobs are like giant bricks. Because of "all the feedback" that the previous fobs were too small..

 

When I first got my car 2 yrs ago, I was bombarded by research companies (JD power, etc) that wanted my opinion on every little aspect of the car and they indicated the results get fed back to Jaguar. I assume that Jaguar provided my contact info. Ever since then, I get contacted around every 6 mths asking for updated feedback and details on any issues I might have. In fact, just completed a survey last week.

 

You realise of course that in the software business the above scenario amounts to user error and generally customer support will moan something about some luser needing to RTFM ... after hanging up the phone of course.

 

And isn't that the real problem?

Cars are for driving not an entertainment cocoon.

As for GPS ... the answer is road maps and memory.

 

I totally agree!... The issue is the price point of this car. For $90K I'd guess people expect more. But even the Bentley Continental GT had one of the worst navigation systems up until 2011, but people were still shelling out $170K-$200K for it.

 

I love both of our Jaguars, but there is no doubt that the audio/nav/phone systems are lame in comparison to most of their competition. However, this didn't stop me from buying the XKR--everything else about these cars is superlative.

 

How old is the OP? If you grew up with rotary phones and 2800 baud modems, that also doesn't help. ;-)

Navigation works great for me. It is a PITA sometimes, but if you go through the tutorial, it will let you know what voice commands you can combine.

Furthermore. It's a little disconcerting that there hasn't been ANY software update/revamp since the cars release over 2 years ago. The whole point of the screens was so you could customize your vehicle. Hell, even the Dodge Dart does it and that's a $20k car.

 

im 25, so thankfully ill never have to experience a rotary phone haha

However, the more important detail about me is that i am a software engineer and i own a software development company, so its become my second nature to be very critical of other software, especially when you take development lifecycle into consideration. I find it absolutely shocking that something so poor made it past quality assurance testing and even made it past the higher ups and was marked "good for production".......if i ever produced something like this with such a poor user experience, i would have lost the client within a second.

and you're right, there are $20k cars that have MUCH better systems....Cadillac and Dodge both have TFT screens which a million built in controls let alone different layout customizations. all ours does is turn red in dynamic mode

 

There was an 82 yr old gentleman that returned his car when I was picking mine up, five days after buying it, put 450 miles on it. He said, 'I didn't pay this much money to drive a computer'.

After an hour in the passenger seat on a long trip, I figured out all the commands and shortcuts. Sometimes it's easier to manually input the address than it is to speak it.

But I agree with you.

I bought the car because I'm only a few years older than you and love gadgets. The USB, BT and iPod connections, along with the TFT dash and features galore was one of the main reaons I bought the car. I've been plagued with issues from day one, December of 2010 when I took delivery and they've replaced my car already. I'm not going to beat that horse anymore though.