hp Prime screen visibility

[Toby]

I just received my hp Prime. I don't like the screen. If I place it on a desk, to work with it at a normal angle, the screen looses color and becomes hard to read, The dark theme is particularly bad. I did notice that if I rotate the calculator 180 so that the keyboard is over the screen while keeping the same viewing angle, the colors and overall quality hold much better. Can these screens be installed backwards and still function? It seems that's the case with my calculator. I've seen many videos and none even suggest the possibility of low quality screen with the hp Prime.

Can someone confirm this with a 'good' unit before I call hp? Thanks.

[Han]

On Tuesday, October 1, 2013 5:51:04 PM UTC-4, Toby wrote:
> I just received my hp Prime. I don't like the screen. If I place it on a desk, to work with it at a normal angle, the screen looses color and becomes hard to read, The dark theme is particularly bad. I did notice that if I rotate the calculator 180 so that the keyboard is over the screen while keeping the same viewing angle, the colors and overall quality hold much better. Can these screens be installed backwards and still function? It seems that's the case with my calculator. I've seen many videos and none even suggest the possibility of low quality screen with the hp Prime.
>
>
>
> Can someone confirm this with a 'good' unit before I call hp? Thanks.

Have you tried adjusting the brightness? [ON][+] and [ON][-] to adjust.

[Toby]

...

> Have you tried adjusting the brightness? [ON][+] and [ON][-] to adjust.

Yes I did. It looks fine if seen from the top of the calculator down. Strange. Does your Prime screen displays better in normal position vs from the top? It seems that the lcd is optimized for one viewing positions only.

[TW]

> Yes I did. It looks fine if seen from the top of the calculator down. Strange. Does your Prime screen displays better in normal position vs from the top? It seems that the lcd is optimized for one viewing positions only.

Actually, it has to do more with the exact colors displayed. For example, if the screen is all red, it looks best from one direction, and blue will look best from completely the opposite.


TW

[Toby]

I see that now in the Applications screen (more colors..). I guess those color details need to be considered in a future screen theme definition, to optimize it for the most common desktop position. To me, the dark theme is unusable as is.

Thanks everybody for replying.

[Harold A Climer]

I think the same thing happens on my LED TV screen. When I am at my
computer and not looking directly at the TV, the colors are washed
out,compared to how they look when looking at the TV head on.
Harold A Climer
Dept.Of Physics,Geology,and Astronomy
U.T Chattanooga
Room 223 Grote Hall
615 McCallie Ave
Chattanooga TN 37403
Harold...@utc.edu

[Toby]

On Tuesday, October 1, 2013 8:06:52 PM UTC-4, Harold A Climer wrote:

> I think the same thing happens on my LED TV screen. When I am at my
> computer and not looking directly at the TV, the colors are washed
> out,compared to how they look when looking at the TV head on.
> Harold A Climer
> Dept.Of Physics,Geology,and Astronomy
> U.T Chattanooga
> Room 223 Grote Hall
> 615 McCallie Ave
> Chattanooga TN 37403
> Harold...@utc.edu

I get that, believe me. Is just that I wasn't expecting this effect in such a basic usage scenario. I guess I'm spoiled with all those modern cell phone screens.

[Virgil]

In article <b81c50a8-cfff-4b09...@googlegroups.com>,

On portable computers, it is done on purpose to make it hard for others
to read your screen from off on one side.
--

[Mario Lohajner]

>> I get that, believe me. Is just that I wasn't expecting this effect in
>> such
>> a basic usage scenario. I guess I'm spoiled with all those modern cell
>> phone
>> screens.

> On portable computers, it is done on purpose to make it hard for others
> to read your screen from off on one side.

Really... i mean, do you really belive that ?

ATM machines have paralax filter/barier so the image gets blury and dark
when viewing sideways,
intention there is clear.

If they realy wanted to make screen unreadable sideways such filter would be
built in portables, another thing is...
How come more expensive models use pannels with almost 180deg. viewing
angles are they not concerned with
sideways readability/security ?
(Better pannels on expensive models?)

I'm convinced it's due to thiner pannels, smaller backlight gap, with fewer
light diffusor layers and finaly simpler matrix structure/material
two words: cheeper, crappier.

(may not be the case with Prime, also for me the viewing angle is not
critical in calculators)
the more i think, the more i'm sure color display is not important for a
*real* calculator

manjo
http://fly.srk.fer.hr/~manjo

[Toby]

Color in a calculator may seem useless now because we are used to present just either straight results or error messages in monochrome screens. If well used, color could represent other aspects of the analysis, such as the algorithm used, or internal mode switching, or the relative margin of error, or the suitability of an expression for a particular command, etc... Besides results, the calculator could speak to you, hinting and guiding you BEFORE the need for an error message. Color adds another layer of information without needing extra screen space. It's up to the Prime designers to implement uses for it besides just the decorative bits.

I don't like the hp Prime screen, but I definitely see the potential for color in modern calculators.

[ABC]

Hello Toby,

Are you perhaps wearing polarizing glasses?

Greetz,
abc

[Toby]

On Wednesday, October 2, 2013 4:26:27 PM UTC-4, ABC wrote:
> ...

>
> Hello Toby,
>
>
>
> Are you perhaps wearing polarizing glasses?
>
>
>
> Greetz,
>
> abc

No, I'm not. I am playing with the calculator now, still looks better from the top down, the white font quite readable with the dark theme. Not so from the bottom up. So, the light theme stays: it looses color, but at least the black fonts are more readable.

[Joe Horn]

> Are you perhaps wearing polarizing glasses?

Good news in that regard: The Prime is HP's first calculator to use an LCD with a circular polarizer. This makes it possible to use it with polarized sunglasses without any loss of readability due to the angle of the polarization. All previous HP calculators were problematic with polarized sunglasses; the HP Prime remains equally readable at any angle of rotation. (Angle of *tilt* is another matter entirely, as Toby has pointed out, but that is unrelated to polarized sunglasses).

-Joe-

[Toby]

No!!!...

Now I have a bright spot claiming attention, quite big. I hate to have to deal with warranty issues, but this screen is just not to hp's standards of quality. I'm calling before the second spot appears.

[Toby]

Well, the hp Prime has been replaced, everything is 'prime' condition now. HP once again, had me covered. That's why I own over a dozen hp products. My next gadget: the hp Omni 10.

[Mario Lohajner]

> Well, the hp Prime has been replaced, everything is 'prime' condition now.
> HP once again, had me covered. That's why I own over a dozen hp products.
> My next gadget: the hp Omni 10.

Very nice to hear, nice of you to report the good news here,
-we miss some optimism and enthusiasm from "golden hp calculator days" here
-so it was your unit that had a "buggy" screen

manjo
http://fly.srk.fer.hr/~manjo

[Toby]

A white spot appeared after 2-3 days of usage, big enough to bother, but the screen was usable. I pre-ordered it with high expectations, so the spot to me was like a white elephant looking at me. I'm glad they replaced it quickly. Now I can finally brag about it to my TI nerd friends.

[dg69]

Hi Toby,

Please can you confirm that your "new" Hp Prime have a very different screen aspect in in dark theme ? Because I have mine since 3 days and I confirm exactly what you explain...

"If I place it on a desk, to work with it at a normal angle, the screen looses color and becomes hard to read, The dark theme is particularly bad. I did notice that if I rotate the calculator 180 so that the keyboard is over the screen while keeping the same viewing angle, the colors and overall quality hold much better."

On your new HP prime is the dark theme is better ?

My apologise for my bad english...

[Toby]

The same as before: the dark theme is unusable at a normal angle while on a desk. However, try the test with the light theme and the opposite happens: It looks better at a normal desk angle, as it should. So, light theme it is for me. These lcd screens tend to do that as previously stated previously. Don't delve into it too much, it is a great product. Keep the comparisons among other calculators, not mini-tablets.

[Toby]

On Thursday, October 24, 2013 8:48:57 PM UTC-4, Toby wrote:

>> ... These lcd screens tend to do that as previously stated previously.

You see, my English ain't that good, in a recursive kind of way. You are ok ;).

[dg69]

Thanks for your nice answer Toby,

For now I stay with the dark theme... And I look the screen at perpendicular angle...

I wonder if the dark theme can increase battery life ?

Have a nice day !