Size of Infotainment screen

R

rochrunner

Member
As stated in another thread, I currently have a 2015 Mazda 3 GT hatch, so am familiar with the current Infotainment system. When I was test driving a CX-5 yesterday, I swore that the screen was smaller although the salesman said it was the same. Maybe this is just an optical illusion because the screen on the hatchback is positioned so there's a lot of bezel showing instead of being sort of buried in the dash like on the CX.

It also seemed a good bit farther away. I have my 3 hacked to enable the touch screen when moving, and I can reach the screen with just a slight forward lean. On the CX it seemed like it would be quite a stretch.

So how do you think the 7" screen does for things like navigation where there's a lot of info to display? I like using the commander knob for most everything except on the Nav screen for things like entering a street name. Yes, it has voice recognition, but I've found that to not work all that well. An 8" screen would have been nice!
 
rochrunner said:
As stated in another thread, I currently have a 2015 Mazda 3 GT hatch, so am familiar with the current Infotainment system. When I was test driving a CX-5 yesterday, I swore that the screen was smaller although the salesman said it was the same. Maybe this is just an optical illusion because the screen on the hatchback is positioned so there's a lot of bezel showing instead of being sort of buried in the dash like on the CX.
Click to expand...

The 7" screen now uses optical bonding for the LCD and touch panel, making it noticeably thinner and more resistant to reflection.

It may look smaller but it's just an illusion :D
 
You aren't imagining it. The new screen is indeed different in size. It has a different aspect ratio than the screens found in the older Mazda 3. I've got a 2017 CX-5 and my wife has a 2014 Mazda 3. Her screen does look bigger due to it being taller, but the 2017 has a much higher quality screen due to the bonding of the screen.
 
jhu8 said:
The new Model 3, EVERYTHING is on the touch screen.
Click to expand...

Yes I know but what happens when you want to adjust it but the screen is on nav(uhm) Does it have onscreen button you can press(uhm)
 
Xeler8ing said:
Yes I know but what happens when you want to adjust it but the screen is on nav(uhm) Does it have onscreen button you can press(uhm)
Click to expand...

With a screen that large, its broken up in sections. So on the left side you'll have navgiation. Then on the right you'll have media controls. Then along the bottom there is shortcuts for everything else you may need. Still will be very weird because with no tactile feel upon selection, how do you know you hit the right button? You don't, unless you take your eyes off the road. Which, will be fine 99% of the time. Still, making what use to be easy selection a little more difficult.
 
jhu8 said:
With a screen that large, its broken up in sections. So on the left side you'll have navgiation. Then on the right you'll have media controls. Then along the bottom there is shortcuts for everything else you may need. Still will be very weird because with no tactile feel upon selection, how do you know you hit the right button? You don't, unless you take your eyes off the road. Which, will be fine 99% of the time. Still, making what use to be easy selection a little more difficult.
Click to expand...

Oh I see. So it's not one massive display showing nav. It's a combination. I get it now. Thanks (thumb)

I suppose people will get used to it
 
steinbch said:
You aren't imagining it. The new screen is indeed different in size. It has a different aspect ratio than the screens found in the older Mazda 3. I've got a 2017 CX-5 and my wife has a 2014 Mazda 3. Her screen does look bigger due to it being taller, but the 2017 has a much higher quality screen due to the bonding of the screen.
Click to expand...
Aha! That explains it -- thanks. The only issue is that a higher-quality screen usually means higher res and then they want to make everything smaller to pack more in. At my age, my eyes are pretty good, but I do have more trouble these days with fine print, etc. We're going to take another test drive next week so I can show it to my wife, and I'll pay more attention to what the screen actually looks like.

Another thing to consider is that a 7" screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio actually has more surface area than a 7" screen at a 16:9 ratio, which I assume is the difference in the two screens. So technically the new one is smaller.
 
Last edited:
I much prefer manual climate control and heated seat buttons. The one think I like about Keeps screen is you can move icons around.
 
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