How Not to Design a Microwave

Re:How Not to Design a Microwave by BoppreH on Sunday January 07, 2018 @05:01AM (#16090153)

I find it interesting it's time per gram. Does it have a scale inside?

Combined with the easy-to-understand knobs, this does sound much better.

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Re:How Not to Design a Microwave by ThePadawan on Sunday January 07, 2018 @05:03AM (#16090163)

The label means "time or grams", where "grams" only applies for defrosting.

Defrosting x grams typically takes y seconds, which is just a table lookup.

As defrosting most typically involves leftovers (rather than pre-packaged meals or ingredients), you will probably only know their weight, not how long it will take to defrost off the top of your head.

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Re:How Not to Design a Microwave by panic on Sunday January 07, 2018 @05:08AM (#16090182)

I think a small improvement to the design would be to use words (COOK TIME / DEFROST GRAMS), with the "DEFROST GRAMS" text colored to match the defrost option on the bottom (which should also use the word, "DEFROST"). This would let you figure out what the dial does without having to think as much about it.

You could also change the screen backlight color in DEFROST mode to reinforce the mode change.

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Re:How Not to Design a Microwave by TeMPOraL on Sunday January 07, 2018 @06:24AM (#16090422)

> As defrosting most typically involves leftovers (rather than pre-packaged meals or ingredients), you will probably only know their weight, not how long it will take to defrost off the top of your head.

How would one know that? Do people routinely put leftovers on a scale before putting them into a microwave?

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Re:How Not to Design a Microwave by mrob on Sunday January 07, 2018 @05:03AM (#16090161)

It's not "per gram", it's an dual function dial, used for both time and weight. If the lower dial is switched to defrost mode (2nd position) then the upper dial is switched to weight input. There is no scale inside.

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