So the Evoque has been described as having the “Range Rover brand’s 8-inch(203mm) high-definition touchscreen display”, which I guess is new for the “brand’ because the current models I believe all have 7” screens.  Anyway, I noticed that the new XJ touchscreen had a similar look to the quick shots we’ve seen of the Evoque, not identical but similar design language – the XJ has the 8” screen too.

So while doing a little searching around, I found that Jaguar actually has a Flash-based and what appears to be Windows only; emulator for their touch screen & HVAC controls.

http://www.jaguar.com/us/en/#/owner_support/touchscreen_simulator

So again, I realize it’s not identical to the Evoque’s but if the little things like this interest you like they do me, you may want to check it out:

One thing I did notice on the XJ that the Land Rover designers didn’t do, was try to eliminate as many buttons as possible.  Which while a nice thing to do to clear up the clutter and confusion, some odd choices/compromises were made.  Like the climatic seats, there seems to be a lot of tapping on the screen to set what you want – I realize going this way does add more options with less buttons, but on the other side, these changes now can’t be done without looking.  Without a physical switch/button/knob, how much muscle memory gets trained?  A hard button gets you to the screen but then it’s just a lot of tapping.

And then there’s the physical audio controls, instead of putting that musical note button next to Mode, why not put a Pause button?  You could move the left transport control to the left once more and then add Pause button right in the middle.  Of all hard buttons they replaced with this design, why do you need a hard button to set the Base & Treble – is it really used that often?

Then you’ve got those “Shortcuts” which seem to be for the most part not things that you may be changing all that often – Language?  Animation preferences?

Sorry XJ, you’re an awesome car, it just seems the UI designers may need a bit more time for polish.  Maybe the Evoque’s system is v2 for the new 8” JLR screens?

Either way, go check this out.