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Mk. 8.5 Infotainment Shortcut Buttons.

Judesman

Ready to race!
Thinking about the 8.5 , under the infotainment System there are three shortcut buttons. On the Life and Style, what are these for please? Is the Infotainment System covered in the owner's manual?
 
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AL2024

Passed Driver's Ed
The buttons are just short cuts to areas of the infotainment system, for example there is one that says Clima and that just brings up the Climate control page on the screen which you can get to anyway using a button on the screen itself. I suppose they might be helpful to someone never having been in the car before being able to get to the basic functions.

There is only an online users manual if you sign up to VWs site and have your car in the system or know the VIN, although despite VW knowing the exact car you've got, frustratingly the online manual is still generic covering a range of trims and specs, so you are never quite sure if something applies to your car or not, surely they could customise the manual to show only what applied, isn't that the benefit of a digital manual?
 

Judesman

Ready to race!
The buttons are just short cuts to areas of the infotainment system, for example there is one that says Clima and that just brings up the Climate control page on the screen which you can get to anyway using a button on the screen itself. I suppose they might be helpful to someone never having been in the car before being able to get to the basic functions.

There is only an online users manual if you sign up to VWs site and have your car in the system or know the VIN, although despite VW knowing the exact car you've got, frustratingly the online manual is still generic covering a range of trims and specs, so you are never quite sure if something applies to your car or not, surely they could customise the manual to show only what applied, isn't that the benefit of a digital manual?
Thank you for that. I drive a brilliant Golf 7.5 but find the Infotainment System on the 8.5 a dangerous distraction. I haven't bought an 8.5 yet but use climate control and the radio a lot on our journeys. Having to prod around on a touch screen is not safe in my opinion. I would rather keep my eyes on the road. The sales people all say the same: you get used to it but they want to sell cars. To me a printed manual is essential but I am a senior surfer!
 

AL2024

Passed Driver's Ed
Thank you for that. I drive a brilliant Golf 7.5 but find the Infotainment System on the 8.5 a dangerous distraction. I haven't bought an 8.5 yet but use climate control and the radio a lot on our journeys. Having to prod around on a touch screen is not safe in my opinion. I would rather keep my eyes on the road. The sales people all say the same: you get used to it but they want to sell cars. To me a printed manual is essential but I am a senior surfer!
You can control the climate control with voice commands (set an exact temperature, turn the fan speed up and down, A/C on an off etc and this all works really well with a bit of practice) and also put on the home page a tile so that the climate controls are right by your hand on the screen. You might need to have a quick glance at the screen to touch the correct button but your eyes are no more off the road than they would be glancing at sat nav or the dashboard, or even glancing down to aim for a knob or button.

I was like you, just resigned to the fact it would be less usable having only a touch screen after my last car, but now I'm used to it, I don't feel it is any more distracting than my last car and feeling for buttons.
 

Judesman

Ready to race!
You can control the climate control with voice commands (set an exact temperature, turn the fan speed up and down, A/C on an off etc and this all works really well with a bit of practice) and also put on the home page a tile so that the climate controls are right by your hand on the screen. You might need to have a quick glance at the screen to touch the correct button but your eyes are no more off the road than they would be glancing at sat nav or the dashboard, or even glancing down to aim for a knob or button.

I was like you, just resigned to the fact it would be less usable having only a touch screen after my last car, but now I'm used to it, I don't feel it is any more distracting than my last car and feeling for buttons.
Many thanks AL, much appreciated. The problem is though, learning my way around the functions and facilities without a manual.
 

AL2024

Passed Driver's Ed
Many thanks AL, much appreciated. The problem is though, learning my way around the functions and facilities without a manual.
The thing with manuals for modern UIs on touch screens are manuals just become a book of screenshots with some text that just parrot what is on the screen. For example, the touch screen might have a button that has a picture of a fan with + and - and a button that says "AUTO", so in the manual you get the same picture then the text says "To speed up the fan press +, to slow the fan down press -, to have the fan automatically adjust, press the AUTO button". If someone couldn't work that out from the screen itself then perhaps they shouldn't be attempting to drive at all :) The other issue, unlike physical buttons, is the interface can change and be improved or added to with software updates, so a printed manual can be out of date quite quickly. It is the same with smart devices like smart phones, they don't come with manuals.

Everything on the touch screen is fairly obvious, and once set up, 95% of it you will probably never look at a again. I think where manuals are necessary isn't about how to use the interface, but to give more detail about some of the functions, for example Traffic Assist, I can see how to turn it on and off, but I would like to know more about what it does, so in those cases I've just Googled it and watch some YouTube videos.

There is a full online manual that replicates the missing printed manual, in many ways its better because you can search for something very quickly.
 

Maturedriver

Go Kart Champion
Very few things with screens have instructions nowadays least of all in paper format. If you buy a mobile phone, tablet, tv it is assumed that to know how it works. Same with infotainment (strange word) screens. If you are at a loss how things work ask a 12 year old.
 

Judesman

Ready to race!
The thing with manuals for modern UIs on touch screens are manuals just become a book of screenshots with some text that just parrot what is on the screen. For example, the touch screen might have a button that has a picture of a fan with + and - and a button that says "AUTO", so in the manual you get the same picture then the text says "To speed up the fan press +, to slow the fan down press -, to have the fan automatically adjust, press the AUTO button". If someone couldn't work that out from the screen itself then perhaps they shouldn't be attempting to drive at all :) The other issue, unlike physical buttons, is the interface can change and be improved or added to with software updates, so a printed manual can be out of date quite quickly. It is the same with smart devices like smart phones, they don't come with manuals.

Everything on the touch screen is fairly obvious, and once set up, 95% of it you will probably never look at a again. I think where manuals are necessary isn't about how to use the interface, but to give more detail about some of the functions, for example Traffic Assist, I can see how to turn it on and off, but I would like to know more about what it does, so in those cases I've just Googled it and watch some YouTube videos.

There is a full online manual that replicates the missing printed manual, in many ways its better because you can search for something very quickly.
Thanks AL. It is not so much how to use what you see on the screen as how to access the particular screen that you need to use. I agree, that once set up a lot of settings will not be needed again. Thanks for your thoughts.
 

MilgeS

New member
You can control the climate control with voice commands (set an exact temperature, turn the fan speed up and down, A/C on an off etc and this all works really well with a bit of practice) and also put on the home page a tile so that the climate controls are right by your hand on the screen. You might need to have a quick glance at the screen to touch the correct button but your eyes are no more off the road than they would be glancing at sat nav or the dashboard, or even glancing down to aim for a knob or button.

I was like you, just resigned to the fact it would be less usable having only a touch screen after my last car, but now I'm used to it, I don't feel it is any more distracting than my last car and feeling for buttons.
Hello, sorry to bother you but I have just looked at buying the "Voice control" package as it's on offer. There is a 30 day "free" trial which I have activated but when I try to adjust temperature with voice commands it says that "air conditioning functions are not available", I looked in the help menu and it says "this function is not available in this language".

I'm in the UK, my car is a Mk8 R-Line Black Edition, if you can throw any advice my way to get this function working (it's the only reason I want voice control!!) I would be very grateful, my dealer doesn't seem to know how to get it working and there is no other English voice option to select, I thought it might have English USA to try but nope.

Thank you for any help.
 

fade away

New member
Hello, sorry to bother you but I have just looked at buying the "Voice control" package as it's on offer. There is a 30 day "free" trial which I have activated but when I try to adjust temperature with voice commands it says that "air conditioning functions are not available", I looked in the help menu and it says "this function is not available in this language".

I'm in the UK, my car is a Mk8 R-Line Black Edition, if you can throw any advice my way to get this function working (it's the only reason I want voice control!!) I would be very grateful, my dealer doesn't seem to know how to get it working and there is no other English voice option to select, I thought it might have English USA to try but nope.

Thank you for any help.
I have an RLine. The climate functions in the RLine are pretty basic, compared to other models - the voice activation does NOT work with climate control in RLine models.
 

MilgeS

New member
I have an RLine. The climate functions in the RLine are pretty basic, compared to other models - the voice activation does NOT work with climate control in RLine models.
That's so disappointing! I'm glad I never paid for the full package, I only want to be able to set a damn temperature!

Thank you for confirming these details, much appreciated.
 

fade away

New member
You can control the climate control with voice commands (set an exact temperature, turn the fan speed up and down, A/C on an off etc and this all works really well with a bit of practice) and also put on the home page a tile so that the climate controls are right by your hand on the screen. You might need to have a quick glance at the screen to touch the correct button but your eyes are no more off the road than they would be glancing at sat nav or the dashboard, or even glancing down to aim for a knob or button.

I was like you, just resigned to the fact it would be less usable having only a touch screen after my last car, but now I'm used to it, I don't feel it is any more distracting than my last car and feeling for buttons.
I have a '22 RLine Mk8 and this is the tile I use to quickly access the climate. Worth noting that the climate controls on an RLine are basic and not the full set as other models.

I reality I don't have cause to use it, as I set my temp to 21°, fan always on Auto, Radio always on BBC Radio 2. No buttons to press, no problem, I wouldn't be pressing them anyway !
 

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MilgeS

New member
I have a '22 RLine Mk8 and this is the tile I use to quickly access the climate. Worth noting that the climate controls on an RLine are basic and not the full set as other models.

I reality I don't have cause to use it, as I set my temp to 21°, fan always on Auto, Radio always on BBC Radio 2. No buttons to press, no problem, I wouldn't be pressing them anyway !
I learnt this week how to set up tiles! It's handy but voice would be even better in the dark with the touch controls being unlit, definitely something I will look into before any future purchases! Thanks for your help, my tile is slightly different so I will look at copying yours, cheers.
 

fade away

New member
I take your point on the touch controls, but personally I've not found it an issue if almost 3 years of driving.
The temp display on the main screen is always lit, and the temperature touch control never moves - it's always directly under the temperature display.

I find, in the odd move away from 21°, that a tap serves better than a slide. Each tap moves the temp 0.5°.

Also, if you tap the temperature display you get the attached screenshot and you can adjust the lit temp control there.
 

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