Color Blindness and HP Prime keys color choice

[dbbotkin]

Cursing the darkness vs. lighting a candle

I bought a Prime and also found the keys hard to see in virtually any light, but worse in direct, bright light due to the reflection from the shiny silver killing whatever contrast there was on the key-face.

My solution: remove the silver overlay. Carefully . . .. Cleaning of the remaining adhesive (most came off with the metal) with a toothpick yielded a 100% improvement in visibility.

For those handy with tools, there are more elegant solutions, but the silver is the problem, not the key color.

Note: I can almost hear the marketing meeting; "an all-black Prime looks too much like a TI-npire! We have to distinguish our product; make the bottom half silver!"

[Han]

What about just changing the keys to be black with white, bright orange, and bright blue (or cyan) for the lettering (much like the colors of the keys near the arrow-pad). Isn't white plastic more expensive to make, anyway? (Not sure where I read that, but vaguely recalling some Apple-related article on how expensive white plastic can be, relatively speaking)

I personally like the aluminum overlay :-)

[dbbotkin]

For sure, black keys and the silver would be much better! How hard would it be to have replacement keys made (assuming one has the injection-molding setup used for the original)? Probably very hard and expensive unless you are in China and know someone . . .. The letters are painted on, right? (not like the early days at h/p)

You are right about "Apple white" and the incredible search Steve Jobs and Jony Ive undertook to get just the right shade. Apple's tolerances are far tighter than anyone else's in the market and they get a premium for their products as a result.

Cheers,
D

[Kevin]

(10-15-2014 05:17 PM)dbbotkin Wrote:  Cursing the darkness vs. lighting a candle

I bought a Prime and also found the keys hard to see in virtually any light, but worse in direct, bright light due to the reflection from the shiny silver killing whatever contrast there was on the key-face.

My solution: remove the silver overlay. Carefully . . .. Cleaning of the remaining adhesive (most came off with the metal) with a toothpick yielded a 100% improvement in visibility.

For those handy with tools, there are more elegant solutions, but the silver is the problem, not the key color.
Note: I can almost hear the marketing meeting; "an all-black Prime looks too much like a TI-npire! We have to distinguish our product; make the bottom half silver!"

Is there any chance you could show us a picture of the 'silver overlay' removed for us to judge contrast?

I think we're all agreed that the legibility of the blue and orange is a serious problem that HP should resolve as soon as possible.

For me, the orange is so bad that I would certainly buy a clear plastic overlay or failing that, be driven to fine-painting alphabetical symbols directly onto the aluminium above the relevant key in a strongly contrasting colour/tone!

[dbbotkin]

(01-21-2016 04:33 PM)Kevin Wrote:  

(10-15-2014 05:17 PM)dbbotkin Wrote:  Cursing the darkness vs. lighting a candle

I bought a Prime and also found the keys hard to see in virtually any light, but worse in direct, bright light due to the reflection from the shiny silver killing whatever contrast there was on the key-face.

My solution: remove the silver overlay. Carefully . . .. Cleaning of the remaining adhesive (most came off with the metal) with a toothpick yielded a 100% improvement in visibility.

For those handy with tools, there are more elegant solutions, but the silver is the problem, not the key color.
Note: I can almost hear the marketing meeting; "an all-black Prime looks too much like a TI-npire! We have to distinguish our product; make the bottom half silver!"

Is there any chance you could show us a picture of the 'silver overlay' removed for us to judge contrast?

I think we're all agreed that the legibility of the blue and orange is a serious problem that HP should resolve as soon as possible.

For me, the orange is so bad that I would certainly buy a clear plastic overlay or failing that, be driven to fine-painting alphabetical symbols directly onto the aluminium above the relevant key in a strongly contrasting colour/tone!

There is always a "better way" and the removal of the silver overlay was my first step--not needing the Prime to be disassembled--however the "take it apart" urge kicked in and you can check my posts for the teardown with photos. The better way to kill the glare was to (after disassembly) paint the silver area with Rust-Oleum "Painter's-Touch" 2X Ultra cover in either flat black or satin, depending on your preference.

This "voids the warranty and blah, blah," but the visibility is far superior. I can post photos if anyone wants to see the result. For a small view, look at my avatar.

Here are the risks if you have little experience in taking electronics apart: a dead calculator. You now have $100 worth of experience, go buy another Prime and don't make the same mistake. Tear it down so all the keys are removed.

Here are the risks if you don't know how to spray paint: other than the stuff on the can (don't inhale, spray on flame, etc) you will probably spray too much on the first coat. This is a trap for young players in a hurry. Clean the metal with 99.99% (not 70% 'rubbing alcohol') isopropyl alcohol first, then practice spraying some throw-away item like a water bottle or some cardboard. Use blue masking tape to cover everything you don't want paint on. Just enough spray to cover lightly and then let it dry. Outside in the sun or in a warm, well-ventilated place. Go for three light coats. Then let it dry overnight before putting it back together.

Link to the teardown: http://www.view-finder.us/Other/HP-Prime.../i-jdJ2GfP

[chromos]

Wow, I thought I'm in minority with my opinion about calculator bad color scheme and here is thread with six pages. I'm so tired from todays trends when marketing wins over common sense.

[dbbotkin]

(01-22-2016 01:48 AM)chromos Wrote:  Wow, I thought I'm in minority with my opinion about calculator bad color scheme and here is thread with six pages. I'm so tired from todays trends when marketing wins over common sense.

Yup, back in the day when engineers designed calculators for other engineers to use in their daily work, h/p played very close attention to the color coding of the keys and visibility in low light levels. Now calculators are designed for kids in school--which in itself is even farther from the 'real world' than when the h/p 35 came on the scene--and the 'design' is left to people who might never have used a calculator.

I'd bet a Prime that the silver was the result of a desire to make it differ from the high-end TI calculators' all-black look.

[sbergman27]

I'm perfectly fine with white blue and orange. And the keyboard hardware is perfect. But the pastel blue and orange are just horrible from a usability standpoint. A deeper bolder blue and orange, please!