Photo: reddit user anaymakan
Google isn’t working only on new features for Waze, such as charging stations information for electric vehicle owners, but also on additional polishing to further refine the existing capabilities.
The visual warnings, for example, could get a new design in a future update on Android (and most likely on Android Auto too), followed by a similar release on iOS and Apple CarPlay.
Currently available in the latest beta build shipped to testers, the new warnings show up at the bottom of the screen in a red panel that’s a lot easier to notice when driving. The demo you see here alerts the driver of a speed camera on their route, but a similar design is expected to be used for other reports, including potholes, accidents, and traffic jams.
At first glance, this design could make sense from a usability perspective, but on the other hand, there are other ways that could make the warnings themselves less intrusive without eating so much space on the screen.
For example, the warnings could be displayed as a sliding notification that shows up at the top of the screen, similar to the popups that show up when listening to music in Spotify or Deezer. The notification could go away after a pre-defined time unless the driver interacts with it.
The problem with this implementation that is currently in beta testing is mostly the reduced screen estate. The cluttered UI means there’s less space for other key features, such as the right-side icons that now overlap each other. Of course, Google could easily fix this by reducing their dimensions, but overall, the bottom warning still eats up too much of the available screen estate.
It remains to be seen if this change makes its way to the stable version of Waze, but I expect further refinements to be given before the go-ahead is given for the production build.
Currently available in the latest beta build shipped to testers, the new warnings show up at the bottom of the screen in a red panel that’s a lot easier to notice when driving. The demo you see here alerts the driver of a speed camera on their route, but a similar design is expected to be used for other reports, including potholes, accidents, and traffic jams.
At first glance, this design could make sense from a usability perspective, but on the other hand, there are other ways that could make the warnings themselves less intrusive without eating so much space on the screen.
For example, the warnings could be displayed as a sliding notification that shows up at the top of the screen, similar to the popups that show up when listening to music in Spotify or Deezer. The notification could go away after a pre-defined time unless the driver interacts with it.
The problem with this implementation that is currently in beta testing is mostly the reduced screen estate. The cluttered UI means there’s less space for other key features, such as the right-side icons that now overlap each other. Of course, Google could easily fix this by reducing their dimensions, but overall, the bottom warning still eats up too much of the available screen estate.
It remains to be seen if this change makes its way to the stable version of Waze, but I expect further refinements to be given before the go-ahead is given for the production build.
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