Clutter
Yes good points. I like the sentence I've put it bold particularly.
That's funny, I actually dislike cars with buttons everywhere. I can't imagine all of the buttons that would be necessary to operate my GPS and MP3 collection.
A bit off topic, but to show a point, this is what a simple private owned cockpit looks like. Not to bad, and not to difficult to learn what everything does. Altimeter, horizon, compass, fuel, radio, etc:
Now, take a look at the original F-15 cockpit. Wow, what a difference. So many buttons, switches and levers. Of course this is a much more complex aircraft with weapon systems and radar and all kind of stuff a recreational pilot does not have:
The F-16 was the first fighter to try to alleviate all of the cutter than had developed:
Finally, one of the most recent planes, the euro fighter's cockpit. A much more complex fighter than the F-15 and F-16, yet much more simple to look at:
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I know a bit unrelated, but I am trying showing that the more complex you get the more you need to simplify. As manufacturers are attempting to shove more and more into these cameras and give us more and more features, there reaches an overload point where you simply can't keep adding buttons.
Is one right and one wrong? I don't think so. Back before digital processing, you really only had a few choices when you were taking a picture. Your film determined your ISO speed. You either bought color film or black and white. You did not have all of the creative styles we have now. Your only real choices were what aperture, what speed, and what kind of flash to use.
Now however, consumers are demanding more and more in a camera and the makers are providing more and more. There is simply no way to cram all of those buttons into one case. Did the NEX go to far? That is a personal choice, and one only you can answer.