Where can I make suggestions to HP re calculators?

[Rich Messeder (US)]

With many products, there is an email address or list that one can send to/post on. Is there such a place for suggestions? I have a few general topics and one request for the HP50g...

Thanks,
Rich

[Tim Wessman]

The people who really matter already look here and at comp.sys.hp48. Best place to post would be in that newsgroup.

TW

[Hal Bitton in Boise]

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The people who really matter already look here and at comp.sys.hp48.

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Well, if they're looking, then I hope they read this...Put the ENTER bar back in the right place...please!!

Who in this forum agrees with me on this?

Best regards, Hal

[Antonio Maschio (Italy)]

... and with the right dimension (two keys space)!

-- Antonio

Edited: 4 Apr 2007, 8:59 a.m.

[Hal Bitton in Boise]

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... and with the right dimension (two keys space)!

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Absolutely...(note that I called it the ENTER bar and not the ENTER key :)


And while we're at it, lets dispense with the silly little round buttons on the 50G. You could put 6 proper keys into the space occupied by those 4 buttons...6 hinged, labeled, double shifted keys...who wouldn't want that?

Hal

[Walter B]

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6 hinged, labeled, double shifted keys...who wouldn't want that?

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Will we ever see that again? If true, I'll buy two.

[Karl Schneider]

Hi, Hal --

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And while we're at it, lets dispense with the silly little round buttons on the 50G. You could put 6 proper keys into the space occupied by those 4 buttons...

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Ah, like "cursor arrows" on PC keyboards and the original HP-48S/G series are. The probable reason for arranging these four keys in a "baseball diamond" square is improved correspondence between location and direction.

Now, as for round buttons:

Has everyone noticed how the "virtual buttons" on web-browser software -- particularly MS Internet Explorer (IE) -- keep getting goofier with every version? The ideal shape for virtual buttons is the square, because that shape makes it easiest to "land" the mouse pointer within it. The original Netscape (and Mosaic?) browsers displayed big square virtual buttons with clear borders in a row.

Then, MS used rectangular buttons just to be different, and perhaps to flatten toolbars. Netscape followed suit.

With IE v7.0, it's just bizarre: Two round buttons for forward and backward, and tiny square buttons for other functions scattered all over the place. I'm sure that it can be configured, but I haven't made the effort yet.

How about physical buttons? The ideal was probably the solidly-built, conventional American "Bell System" telephones: Square shape for conspicuity and neatness, with curved indentations to fit the fingertip, and only one direction of motion. Perfect function with a clean form.

Today, the free market provides cheaply-made telephones with buttons of all manner of weird shapes and sizes. Yet again, marketing trumps engineering.

-- KS

[Antonio Maschio (Italy)]

sigh....

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

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Yet again, marketing trumps engineering.

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Well maybe there is a light glowing at the end of the tunnel where engineering, marketing and ergonomic design finally meet:

The "Optimus keyboard" of Art Lebedev:
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-concept/

Just imagine a pocket calculator with a 5 by 6 (or 7 or 8 or whatever) rectangular arrangement of lcd-capped, large, sqare keys that can be labelled just as every user likes them best!

Greetings, Max

[Walter B]

Very nice idea! Let's hope it will become reality. Personally, I see its application in custom keyboards for appliances with mains connector, not in battery powered small devices (so far). It may even overload (well, what's the opposite? Overdrain??) a notebook. But every progress in this matter is most welcome!

[Eric Smith]

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Just imagine a pocket calculator with a 5 by 6 (or 7 or 8 or whatever) rectangular arrangement of lcd-capped, large, sqare keys that can be labelled just as every user likes them best!

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Just imagine a $1500 (MSRP) calculator with terrible battery life.

Maybe someday technological advances will reduce the cost enough to make it practical, but it's not likely to happen within the next 10-15 years. Those buttons are very expensive to make, and there's no obvious way to bring that cost down by more than a factor of two or thereabouts.