[degamad]

Who says those buttons have to be physical? With the near-ubiquity of touchscreen interfaces, that should be trivial to build for dirt cheap.

[bhaney]

Where are you getting touchscreens large enough to comfortably fit that entire interface for dirt cheap?

[0_____0]

I mean that's what my current thermostat actually is. Once you've gone back to touchscreen, as a designer you'll realize that people can't see the tiny text, and you have to display contextually relevant information in large type, and you're back to a touchscreen with menus.