Eh well, synaptic controls like buttons and levers look better in my opinion anyways. I really don't know why there's so much initial hype. "Wow!! This onboard touchscreen allows me to do things I don't know how to access, and without any feedback whatsoever!" ??? The design is usually really bad too, in terms of aesthetics.
Our ten year old daughter also thought the touchscreen was cool in the new car. Until she was allowed to finally sit in the front seat while we were driving. She directly came to the conclusion that a touchscreen is stupid in a car :-) Well, at least on the bumpy roads in northern sweden...
Many bad votes in appstores seems to come from "ugly interface" or "looks old" and other similar things. Why is it that an app needs to follow the latest fashion trends? There was a time when we computer nerds looked down at fashion trends, thinking that they just repeat themselves anyway. Why is it that you have to have the latest fashion colors/UI to get more than two stars from some people? No matter if the program does what it needs to and does it fast and efficient.
>Why is it that an app needs to follow the latest fashion trends?
I think our fashion and design tastes directly reflect something important about the time we are living in. For example, minimal and clean is in right now. You could speculate many valid reasons for this. It's also dependent upon the person. The majority of people are attracted to the latest fashion for various reasons, but some people go somewhere else, and others don't care. Users are thinking, if you're not on trend maybe you're out of sync with the user's needs?
It's also about consistency, and appearing as though you've spent time on the app to give it a consistent design. It doesn't necessarily need to be on trend as long as the design says something about the functionality of the app. A retro game in the play store should have a retro-looking menu!! If your design looks significantly outdated without being consistent with the functionality of the app, I think it sends a subconscious signal that the functionality is also deprecated, or that the developer was too lazy to care about an aspect of development that usually gets a lot of attention.
