[deweywsu]

Is this a hit piece by a high-definition display manufacturer? It seems like an unnecessary litany of detractors against one technology without a lot of alternative solutions or trade-offs with others. At the end, there are only 3 sentences that could be called alternatives with the heading "use high resolution displays". Making a "helpful" paper that only lists problems without comparisons or solutions misses all the reasons one would use a 7-segment display (mentioned in the comments here so I won't repeat). There's nothing wrong with this technology. The title "don't use" is too inclusive and is not supported by the paper. I think "Consider not using in certain applications" would have been more appropriate based on the paper's body.

[JohnFen]

> Is this a hit piece by a high-definition display manufacturer?

This was the exact thought I had. The paper strikes me as being very odd, and the arguments against using 7-segment LEDs are very thin.

I will agree with one thing, though: the right components to use are an engineering decision and as with all engineering decisions, the right choice (i.e., the right set of tradeoffs) needs to be determined on a project-by-project basis. For a given project, that may mean not using a 7-segment LED. Or it might mean that's exactly the right choice.

[detourdog]

Could also be a design decision. No reason to let the engineers make all the choices.

[bowsamic]

Considering the paper does not specify that it has no conflicts of interest in the usual place where it would, we should assume the author is involved with such manufacturers

[atoav]

Huh?

As someone designing electrical circuits that might or might not use a 7-digit display this seems rather to be a guide for which use cases to avoid them.

Electrical engineers sadly sometimes don't think about that at all and slap what they know onto everything. When you have a medical device where a reading error or ambiguity can have serious consequences you might want to be aware of that. There are 7-segment-display usecases where that is not an issue irrelevant, e.g. because you have enough contextual clues to not hold the device wrong and read it upside down or because the potential damage from a reading error is irrelevant.

But this is still a design consideration one should be aware of. Especially in times where 7-segment displays aren't necessarily the cheapest option.

[doe_eyes]

Most other display technologies have their downsides too. For example, fot-matrix LCDs are far more fragile and more easily damaged by sunlight or heat than 7-segment LEDs. If you don't discuss that, but dwell on the downsides of 7-segment displays, it does feel a bit like a hit piece.

In fact, 7-segment displays aren't even a monolithic technology, and not all of the gripes in the article apply to every implementation. You have traditional LED models, LCD 7-segment displays, and then some OLED flavors, VFDs, and even electromechanical designs in niche applications.

[carlosjobim]

Almost any 7 segmented display could be replaced by an analogue gauge. For time, for temperature, for selecting options. When a device has a segmented display, I assume it is to cut costs.

[shermantanktop]

When a device has many analog gauges, I assume it is an unnecessarily expensive device.

Few modern use cases actually benefit from the qualities of an analog gauge. It seems to be more of a status marker, at least for consumer goods. Military and ruggedized applications are a different story.

[yencabulator]

As the owner of some analog gauges that have lost their calibration, I disagree.