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HP Forum Archive 18

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hp 35s keyboard issue
Message #1 Posted by jdgc (spain) on 27 Mar 2008, 7:05 p.m.

Has anyone experienced this?

I got my second 35s today. The first one came through samsoncables, and the second one through El Corte Inglés (big Spanish chain à la Sears), just for a backup and for nice printed manuals (here they package Portuguese and Spanish together, which is quite nice; I got only PDF manuals and QuickStart in hardcopy for the first unit).

None of their keyboards qualifies, IMHO. Although firm and positive-feeling, some keys (esp. near 0 and decimal point, and the imaginary unit key and left cursor) feel a bit loose when your release them. Somewhat annoying, esp. when you hear that "hollow" noise of a key that has some looseness when released (the 35s frame amplifies this sound greatly).

The strange thing is with the second unit: all keys feel solid, but the four cursors rock a bit and they feel like sitting on a softer spring than regular keys. Annoying. Everything works fine, but it's a bit bothering (adding to my distaste for them: why not regular cursors in the 48sx style?). It's weird that this happens precisely to those four keys.

Not all keys feeling equally solid, cursor keys a bit crazy and the missing keystrokes... I get the impression that the touted "overengineering" of this keyboard is no more than hype.

[For the curious, Spanish packaging is a nice carton box to acommodate both manuals and the calc and sleeve; the first unit came in the infamous plastic package everybody hates, and PDF manual with anniversary DVD. The serial numbers do not differ too much, CNA 75000880 and CNA 75001534, but I'm not sure if they are meaningful in any sense]

Has anyone seen (felt) this special "softness" affecting precisely the four cursor keys?

Kind regards,

David

      
Re: hp 35s keyboard issue
Message #2 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 28 Mar 2008, 4:31 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by jdgc (spain)

Mine (from samsoncables) came in the plastic blister which I had to cut to get to the innards. I have the printed manual which came in the same box.

The keys are perfect, my serial number is CNA 72801796. This seems to be one of the earlier machines.

I suspect that Kinpo has secretly changed the manufacturing process to cut down cost and quality.

Marcus

Edited: 28 Mar 2008, 4:31 a.m.

            
Re: hp 35s keyboard issue
Message #3 Posted by jdgc (spain) on 28 Mar 2008, 6:56 a.m.,
in response to message #2 by Marcus von Cube, Germany

Quote:
Mine (from samsoncables) came in the plastic blister which I had to cut to get to the innards. I have the printed manual which came in the same box.

They seem to have switched to the "no paper manuals" policy at some point/batch. You can still request one by calling to HP Support.

Quote:
I suspect that Kinpo has secretly changed the manufacturing process to cut down cost and quality.

Too bad... By the way, after keying and debugging a couple of programs, I must add that this 'soft-keyed' cursors are excruciating. They require a determined press to register, which reminds of a 50g with elastic, poor-quality, bouncing springs. The worst of both worlds. My other 35s may feel a bit "hollow", but its cursor keys don't stand in the way, nagging me every time I have to SST or BST as these other brand new %&$@ ones keep doing. Grrrrrr....

Considering a return of the unit through local HP support. I don't know how it compares to other countries (has this been documented before in the forum? I can't recall).

Thanks for your feedback,

David

      
Re: hp 35s keyboard issue
Message #4 Posted by Ivan Latorre on 28 Mar 2008, 4:18 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by jdgc (spain)

Quote:
I got my second 35s today. The first one came through samsoncables, and the second one through El Corte Inglés (big Spanish chain à la Sears), just for a backup and for nice printed manuals (here they package Portuguese and Spanish together, which is quite nice; I got only PDF manuals and QuickStart in hardcopy for the first unit).

Yes, the HP 35s for the Spanish and Portuguese markets comes boxed and not in a blister pack! These are the differences between that edition and the American one (left column-> Spain and Portugal, right column->USA and others):

Box - Blister pack
Two user's guides not shrink wrapped (one in Spanish and the other one in Portuguese) - One user's guide in English shrink wrapped
No CD - Commemorative CD with the history of HP calculators


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