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Video: Chrysler's iPhone-like dashboard makes your car look lame
Personally, we're still digging the central display in Land Rover's forthcoming Range Rover over this, but it's hard to not appreciate a button-free whip. Chrysler was on hand for the 2009 NY Auto Show in order to showcase the 200C concept, a car that utilizes Nartron's touch technology in order to operate entirely without buttons. We stopped by the booth to check out the demonstration, and while a few things seemed inactive, the bulk of it was downright impressive. Now, whether or not Chrysler hangs around long enough to push this into show rooms is another matter entirely, but either way, you can check the vid just after the break.
War on buttons extends to automotive front with Chrysler's iPhone-like dashboard
It's no secret that Apple doesn't like buttons, making the iPhone nearly free of the things and then further pushing the offensive by cropping the 3G Shuffle down to one massively overloaded input. Nartron Corporation is Apple's partner in button hate, bringing that bias to Chrysler of all places to develop a next-gen dashboard for the company's 200C concept. The system is called iQ Power and is unabashedly iPhone-inspired, featuring big, colorful controls and even cover-flow album art for media browsing. Interestingly the system will allow "any smartphone" to be used as an intelligent key, unlocking doors and even accessing a video stream of the car's interior -- which should do wonders for your auto's battery life. The system naturally offers UConnect and features a wireless tablet that allows passengers to send music recommendations to the driver's console. Of course, passengers could also just speak up, but when you're as flush with profits as Chrysler is, why not blow some cash researching useless tech like in-car messaging?[Thanks, Josh, photo courtesy of Adam Bird for The New York Times]
