HP-15c app has a cosmetic problem on newer iPhones

[anyfoo]

I use HP's own HP-15c app on my iPhone, and overall I'm really happy it. It really provides for a quickly accessible HP-15c on my phone when I don't have my real one nearby, and it seems to emulate the hardware accurately.

However, on my iPhone 12 Pro Max at least, the digits are not aligned with the display in portrait mode. You can easily see what I mean below.

Is there any chance this might get fixed, or is nobody looking at these (quite nice, and not free) apps anymore?

By the way, in landscape mode, there are also minor problems, which don't bother me much however: The digits are pretty small and don't fill the display like they should, and touching the HP logo in the corner "flips" the calculator to reveal the backside information, but flipping back through the "Flip" button does not work because it is too far in the corner (a workaround is just to rotate the phone).

   

[anyfoo]

Does anyone know if these apps are still maintained in any way? It would be a shame, they work really well, and this seems to be a very easily fixable cosmetic issue.

[Steve Simpkin]

(03-27-2021 07:48 PM)anyfoo Wrote:  Does anyone know if these apps are still maintained in any way? It would be a shame, they work really well, and this seems to be a very easily fixable cosmetic issue.

The HP-15C App from HP Inc. appears to have been updated about a year ago although some have complained that it made the fonts and icons smaller and harder to use.

The following post sheds some light on the current state of affairs at HP regarding the developers that support some of their calculator products (primarily the HP Prime).
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-16...#pid141944

[Roberto Volpi]

There are several HP15C apps in the iphone store, but the only one that IMHO works properly is the 15C SciCalc.

It also gives the correct result to the Forensic Test (9.0004174003) and its MEM function is exactly as in the real thing.

[anyfoo]

(03-28-2021 08:07 AM)Roberto Volpi Wrote:  There are several HP15C apps in the iphone store, but the only one that IMHO works properly is the 15C SciCalc.

Have you tried HP's one? I thought it might also just emulate the hardware and run the actual HP-15c ROM, but it's hard to be sure. The MEM function (and everything else I've tried) certainly seems to work. How do I perform the "Forensic Test"?

I tried the SciCalc app as well, and while for me it performs exactly like the HP app, so seems like a good alternative at first, it has one fatal flaw (well, not fatal, but driving me crazy): Instead of an actual segment display, it just displays the result in what seems to be a seven segment font. There's nothing wrong with that per se, except that unlike on a segment display, elements now take variable space, which the HP's redraw routines don't take into account.

For example, in this emulation decimal points or commas actually shift the digits after it to the right. So just entering any number longer than a few digits makes the display jump around crazily as the calculator flashes the thousands separators on and off, something you don't notice on the real calculator or a properly emulated display, as the digits stay in the same position there.

[anyfoo]

(03-28-2021 07:01 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  The HP-15C App from HP Inc. appears to have been updated about a year ago although some have complained that it made the fonts and icons smaller and harder to use.

I really don't mind the small font, the completely unaligned display is very obvious though.

Quote:The following post sheds some light on the current state of affairs at HP regarding the developers that support some of their calculator products (primarily the HP Prime).
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-16...#pid141944

Ah yeah I had read that, too, but overall it seemed that future work is not completely ruled out. Given that this is probably just a simple layout fix, I thought maybe there's hope. (Though I don't actually no, maybe making the layout work out for all present and future display dimensions requires a major rework of that port of the app or something.)

[Steve Simpkin]

(03-28-2021 07:11 PM)anyfoo Wrote:  

(03-28-2021 08:07 AM)Roberto Volpi Wrote:  There are several HP15C apps in the iphone store, but the only one that IMHO works properly is the 15C SciCalc.

Have you tried HP's one? I thought it might also just emulate the hardware and run the actual HP-15c ROM, but it's hard to be sure. The MEM function (and everything else I've tried) certainly seems to work. How do I perform the "Forensic Test"?
...

Execute the following equation:
arcsin (arccos (arctan (tan (cos (sin (9) ) ) ) ) )

For more information on calculator forensics and the results from various calculator models, see the following site.
http://www.rskey.org/~mwsebastian/miscprj/forensics.htm

And yes, I would expect HP's app to be using the original HP-15C firmware so it should have the same result as a real HP-15C. In this case the result should be 9.000417403.

[anyfoo]

Thanks. I seem to get the expected result, see screenshot (this is with pressing down PREFIX, so no decimal point, as expected on a 15c).

I'd actually even be a bit surprised if the HP app wasn't the original ROM running in a hardware emulator, as recreating the 15c otherwise could actually be more work (especially if the 15c's CPU is as simple as I think it is), but it's possible of course.

   

[Gerson W. Barbosa]

(03-28-2021 08:53 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  And yes, I would expect HP's app to be using the original HP-15C firmware so it should have the same result as a real HP-15C. In this the result should be 9.000417403.

From the forensic result alone one can never be sure. The results at left have been obtained on an HP 12c Platinum calculator running an RPN program.

[RobertM]

I remember having this display problem (on my iPhone X), but it doesn't happen for me know - it works fine. I have this vague memory of doing a "reset" on the calc (go into landscape mode, hit MENU, and then Reset).

Can't guarantee that will work, but might be worth a try.

[anyfoo]

(03-28-2021 10:01 PM)Gerson W. Barbosa Wrote:  From the forensic result alone one can never be sure.

Thanks for testing! At some point, it's also a distinction without a difference for me. A 100% faithful reproduction without the original ROM or hardware architecture still works like an HP-15c from my point of view. Similarly, an emulator with the original ROM might not emulate the CPU perfectly.

One very certain litmus test for CPU emulation would be if the "on+y^x" trick, which (inadvertently, it seems) allows access to internal memory, worked, but all the apps I've tried just don't seem to accept pressing "on" and any other key at the same time by way of how the keyboard is implemented. (It's not really useful for the function of the app, so it's hardly a fault.)

[anyfoo]

(03-28-2021 10:40 PM)RobertM Wrote:  I remember having this display problem (on my iPhone X), but it doesn't happen for me know - it works fine. I have this vague memory of doing a "reset" on the calc (go into landscape mode, hit MENU, and then Reset).

Unfortunately that didn't work. It's worth mentioning that an iPhone 12 Pro Max has significantly different screen dimensions from an iPhone X. On my iPhone SE for example, the app works perfectly (and the font isn't even too small).

What might have happened in your case is that the app might have been updated to fix the issue for e.g. the iPhone X at some point, but not for later models. Hence me wondering whether fixing it in general, for all screen dimensions, is not as quick as it seems depending on how the app was implemented (it's definitely possible in general, though).

[Roberto Volpi]

(03-28-2021 07:11 PM)anyfoo Wrote:  

(03-28-2021 08:07 AM)Roberto Volpi Wrote:  There are several HP15C apps in the iphone store, but the only one that IMHO works properly is the 15C SciCalc.

Have you tried HP's one?

Not sure. I have tried some of them that were free, but they were unusable.

I know that the display fonts are not exactly as in the real HP15C (ex. "running" is written in a different way) but it is not a big issue. It is perfectly usable.

I just use it when I am not at home as a travelling calculator.

[Xorand]

Can verify same display behavior on the 11 Pro Max (which is probably same screen dimensions and resolution as the 12). I have an iPhone 7 that I believe it was working fine on, but it's been a while since I tried it.

[anyfoo]

Thanks, Xorand. I have a feeling the app internally has a list of known screen dimensions, falling back on an unsuitable placement for unknown ones. If so, I hope it can be updated to use an entirely algorithmic approach. As said these iOS apps released by HP are really nice, and apart from this problem worth the money in my opinion.

[anyfoo]

So I've since found out that portrait mode is broken the same way on my 11" iPad Pro 1st gen (I usually don't use the app's portrait mode on the iPad).

Since landscape mode works as well as on any other device I've tried (even better, because the digits fill out the virtual LCD frame more), I'm back to thinking that it's probably not too hard to fix portrait mode.

[bbergman]

Portrait mode broke over a year ago. It's functional, but just not correctly lined up. Given what we recently heard from the HP guys, it may be a LONG time before this is fixed (if ever). It's annoying and all, but it is what it is...

[anyfoo]

Ah, an update just came out and it seems fixed on all devices. Thanks a lot! It works very well now.

[Gamo]

The HP Inc Original HP Voyager Series App either on iOS or Andriod for the HP-15C is gone on both store.

This reminded me of the real HP-15C that discontinue and re-release as a limited edition once and gone.

Strange but real is that it happen on the app too (15C gone and 12C stay forever !! )


Gamo

[Gerson W. Barbosa]

(05-07-2021 08:18 AM)anyfoo Wrote:  It works very well now.

Except for the blinking display after program execution, which still remains.