HP Forum Archive 17

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35s high-glare display Message #1 Posted by Alex on 26 July 2007, 5:44 p.m. I received my 35s yesterday and was enormously excited! However, when I took it to class and set it down on my desk, all I saw in the display was a perfect reflection of the overhead lighting. The display surface is amazingly reflective, and no matter where I moved my calculator all I saw was glare. The calculator was, in effect, rendered unusable, and I ended up having to shove it back into my pack and pull out my trusty 20s for my exam. I've never noticed light reflecting off a calculator display before, so when I got home I checked all my other calcs. They all have matte finishes on their displays, and all of them diffuse reflected light quite nicely. It's an inconvenience, not a deal-breaker... but I don't like inconveniences. This will only be a problem, obviously, when there is a light source at the proper angle. But I'll bet that light source will always seem to be in *just* the right place, and I'll have to position the calculator to some spot where it just doesn't feel natural. On the positive side, if I get lost in the wilderness, it'll make a great signaling device! Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Thanks! Alex H.

Re: 35s high-glare display Message #2 Posted by Seth Morabito on 26 July 2007, 5:55 p.m., in response to message #1 by Alex The 33s has the same display, and I agree it's annoying. It's not unique, though: One of my 42S calculators, the earlier one, also has a glossy, reflective display. The later 42S model has a much nicer matte display. If I wasn't sure I'd destroy it, I might take some very fine grit sandpaper to the 35S display to see what happens. But I predict I'd end up with an unevenly frosted, unreadable display. :)

Re: 35s high-glare display Message #3 Posted by Walter B on 26 July 2007, 6:13 p.m., in response to message #2 by Seth Morabito There are protective foils for PDAs -- maybe this helps. At least it's better than sandpaper ;-) HTH Walter

Re: 35s high-glare display Message #4 Posted by Seth Morabito on 26 July 2007, 7:22 p.m., in response to message #3 by Walter B This is a good idea. They're inexpensive, and easy to find -- I'll give it a try!

Re: 35s high-glare display Message #5 Posted by Alex on 26 July 2007, 10:21 p.m., in response to message #4 by Seth Morabito Excellent idea! I had the sandpaper thought as well, but I don't think I could bring myself to do it. :-) - Alex

Re: 35s high-glare display Message #6 Posted by Vincze on 27 July 2007, 9:57 a.m., in response to message #5 by Alex I notice same thing. I take eraser and rub the screen a little, and problem go away. Not perfect, but better.

Re: 35s high-glare display Message #7 Posted by Karl Schneider on 27 July 2007, 12:05 a.m., in response to message #1 by Alex Alex posted, Quote: I received my 35s yesterday and was enormously excited! However, when I took it to class and set it down on my desk, all I saw in the display was a perfect reflection of the overhead lighting. The display surface is amazingly reflective, and no matter where I moved my calculator all I saw was glare. The calculator was, in effect, rendered unusable, Seth posted, Quote: The 33s has the same display, and I agree it's annoying. Egan posted in a different thread, Quote: However the annunciators at the top are too close to the edge, the wrong lighting casts a shadow that make them a bit hard to read. Now, I don't expect that HP had scoured the MoHPC Forum for feedback and chatter about the HP-33s, but I had mentioned these very problems three years ago, which have unfortunately been carried over without remedy. An excerpt: Display: Tiny, virtually-indistinguishable decimal point and comma. Inexcusable! Shadowing when viewed at a sharp angle. Glary, reflective screen. (The 1990 Pioneer upgrades addressed that one.) Tiny, hard-to-read annunciators on the upper part of the display, in the shadows The display instantly changes to name of function when a key is pressed, instead of after a time delay when the key is held down, as on the 32S, 32SII, and 42S. It is disconcerting to watch the display flash each time an operation is performed. (In fairness, most of the problems I described have been addressed, either with the revised HP-33s or the new HP-35s.) Nonetheless, I plan to purchase an HP-35s soon, in a retail store if reasonably convenient. I also plan to attend the late-September HHC conference in San Diego, where I can point out a few things. The HP-35s looks like a big leap in the right direction, but there's still room for improvement... -- KS Edited: 27 July 2007, 12:26 a.m.

Re: 35s function preview Message #8 Posted by Gene Wright on 27 July 2007, 9:27 a.m., in response to message #7 by Karl Schneider Karl wrote: "The display instantly changes to name of function when a key is pressed, instead of after a time delay when the key is held down, as on the 32S, 32SII, and 42S. It is disconcerting to watch the display flash each time an operation is performed." Gene: This no longer occurs. No preview of the function is shown in run mode.

Re: 35s function preview Message #9 Posted by Karl Schneider on 29 July 2007, 12:35 a.m., in response to message #8 by Gene Wright Karl wrote: "The display instantly changes to name of function when a key is pressed, instead of after a time delay when the key is held down, as on the 32S, 32SII, and 42S. It is disconcerting to watch the display flash each time an operation is performed." Gene: This no longer occurs. No preview of the function is shown in run mode. Karl again: Not even after a time delay? A nice feature to add would have been the HP-41/42 "NULL" to cancel the function after holding the key down an extended time. -- KS

Re: 35s function preview Message #10 Posted by Gene Wright on 29 July 2007, 8:07 a.m., in response to message #9 by Karl Schneider I don't believe the NULL will ever come back. I don't exactly understand the technical reasons why, but I don't believe we will ever see it. Under those circumstances, it seemed a bit silly to have the function preview AT ALL so it was removed.

A way to get NULL on the HP-32S/II & HP-33S Message #11 Posted by Karl Schneider on 30 July 2007, 9:32 p.m., in response to message #10 by Gene Wright If you want to preview a function on the HP-32S, HP-32SII, or HP-33s, then back out of executing it if desired, hold down the function key while pressing and releasing clear ("C"). The function will abort, but the stack x-register might be cleared as well. If so, it can be recovered with "LASTx". Interestingly, only the scientific Pioneer-series models offered function preview -- not the algebraic models. The preview is also useful because some functions are abbreviated in the menus with ambiguous names: e.g., "R" for "RANDOM" (random number generator) "r" for correlation coefficient "RD" for "RAD" (not "RND") "SD" for "SEED" (not standard deviation); "RND" on the keyboard is for rounding (not random number generator) -- KS Edited: 31 July 2007, 2:02 a.m.

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