Flashy Touchscreen Coke Machines Sort of Suck

"It’s got a touchscreen. It’s got 187 flavor combinations. It’s the Way of the Future™.

Unfortunately, these machines provide an awful user experience."

I was going to write a bunch of stuff about how awful the UI on the touchscreen Coca-Cola dispensers is, the Coke Freestyle, but a bit of googling found that Matt Swanson had pretty much said it all.

  • Only one person can get a drink at a time
  • It's not super clear how you get ice
  • If you leave your cup in the position you get ice, you end up with soda all over your hand/side of your cup
  • The touchscreen is laggy as all hell

Style over substance. A dispenser that could serve multiple people at once, be used one handed, and was extremely intuitive, replaced by a dispenser that serves one person at once, is confusing for most people, and generally requires two hands.

But it has more options. And a touchscreen.