There were still buttons for all the usual suspects like climate control, and to interact with the screen there was an iPod scroll wheel style nub/direction pad down on the center console, next to the shifter. It was simply a dream to use.
Naturally, they ditched it in favor of pure touchscreen.
Eventually I'd imagine you'd get the navigation down to muscle memory like typing on a keyboard - knowing exactly where each option is and where to click or turn the nav button thingy.
Have fun trying to blind-touch a screen when you're on a bumpy road trying to turn the windshield wipers on! :P
Who knows, maybe we're the old ones and the younger generation have all this figured out in their heads already!