Has anyone posted information on a new calculator being developed by HP called the 40gs? It appears to be an Algebraic with CAS. It has a new keyboard and color scheme. The HP HOME view website has a picture.http://members.iinet.net.au/~ccroft/index.htm
HP 40gs
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05-11-2006, 12:09 PM
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05-11-2006, 12:43 PM
I got mine a month ago NIP: it is labelled as "Prototype - Not For Sale". CNA58xxxx
Nice color scheme (much better than that of the 49G+, or 39G+).
Greetings, ▼
05-11-2006, 01:52 PM
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05-11-2006, 01:56 PM
Features aside, the color scheme of the 40gs is quite an improvement compared to the terrible choices made for some recent models. The contrast of the shifted functions on the 40gs is VERY good. Compare that to the nearly invisible black and green shifted functions on the original 39g+. I view this as a positive step...at least they are thinking now about contrast. See the presentation made with HP in attendance at the HHC2004 gathering here: http://www.pahhc.org/2004/HHC2004/Calculating%20_Contrast.pdf ▼
05-11-2006, 04:03 PM
That is a great presentation on color contrast. There is one comment I have, though. When there are so many functions assigned to a particular key, sometimes I personally feel that the lesser used functions should NOT have much contrast. Certainly the main functions should have high contrast in order to readily see which button provides the desired, often-used function. Those which aren't used as often, but still useful enough to have a key label should not have as much contrast (but still enough so as to not make the label next to useless). Otherwise, you end up having way too many colors on the keyboard, thereby causing an eyesore of a calculator. Han ▼
05-14-2006, 12:22 AM
I went through a TON of research on color selection for OpenRPN. What I finally decided on was to use the LAB system for selection. One interesting fact I learned along the way is the effect of background color on contrast. It's best not to use a background having a luminance score below 10 or so as foreground color contrast becomes unpredictable. My final selections were guided by a NASA article. HP did their homework for the voyagers and especially the early pioneers, since their engineers arrived at nearly the same solutions I did.
05-12-2006, 03:48 AM
Is it newer than this one here? Ciao.....Mike ▼
05-12-2006, 12:49 PM
VERSION reports:
05-12-2006, 04:23 AM
I too don't understand the HP38 line. ▼
05-12-2006, 07:22 AM
Well, all the things you talked about are things that I don't like about the calculator. However, we aren't exactly normal users either. A high school student, who doesn't really care about math, finds the 39/40 really easy to use and understand. It is so easy that my mother (who has trouble turning on the computer sometimes) can use it to graph equations. I think that they did a great job on it. It was specificially designed to be easy to learn, not to provide flexibility a more demanding user might want. While I do agree that no command catalog, poor programming, etc are things they could have easily improved upon. I doubt the target customer would care. TW
05-12-2006, 08:08 AM
Re: alpha lock. No need to shift again. Press and hold ALPHA while pressing the letters with your other hand. Alpha lock would be better, but this press and hold approach is better than shifting for each letter. ▼
05-12-2006, 12:55 PM
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C'mon Gene, that's an awkward mode to type anything... :-) |
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