I'll agree with you to a point. There is a huge learning curve, that is for sure, and reading the manual is a must, but....
I don't feel the system is as fast as it needs to be. For example, my wife and I were playing around in an 2012 Ex at the dealership. I was trying to show her some of the functionality to introduce her to MFT. One of the first things out of her mouth is "Why is it so slow?" I had to stifle my laugh. She doesn't read this board, and has no problems with technology, but that is the first thing she noticed. She also asked why the animation was so choppy. She also did not like how long it took for the system to be ready for a voice command. She wanted to press the button and start speaking, but I had to slow her down and wait for the system to be ready.
The point to all of that is, if you are going to introduce new methods to interact with the vehicle and its systems, they have to be as intuitive, as effective, and as quick as the previous methods, otherwise you are taking steps backward. The screen response isn't fast enough, the voice control not quick enough, and the system stable enough to replace the methods already out there. The user should be able to interact with the system at many levels, the simplest forms without having to read through a manual. Leave the manual for the advanced functions. MFT isn't intuitive.
As I said in another post, Ford pushed the envelope of technology, and I can appreciate that because I love gadgets. I believe the problem lies in Ford pushing from the wrong direction. Instead of MFT enhancing the functionality of real buttons and knobs, bringing new layers of control to the user, they pushed from the other direction. They made MFT the master and commander with stylish touch sensitive surfaces and nubs acting as an afterthought. In my eyes, that is where the problem lies. MFT is nowhere near where it needs to be performance, reliability, and functionality wise to accomplish what Ford expects, and in some cases demands, it to do. Ford set about to reinvent the wheel, and came up with a product while flashy (pun intended) and full of promise, just doesn't seem to roll as well as the wheel before it.
Will it get there eventually, sure, I have little doubt about that. Hopefully the big update will fix a great many things and allow MFT to do what it was meant to do. But until I can press the voice command button and being speaking instantly, no wait for a prompt, or ding, or her lovely voice, it will simply be too cumbersome to be completely effective. Is that an unreasonable request? Maybe it is for today's technology. If that is true, then my response is that MFT should have been released later.
Here is to hoping that all of the kinks will be worked out by the time we buy next summer. Maybe the 2013's will be perfect
