AFAIK adding backlight means that the distance between the display and the pen tip needs to increase, so you end up with a small parallax effect and writing doesn't feel as natural anymore.
The reason for this is because the LED is mounted facing directly up, not facing the display. I've seen some mods where they replace the LED with a side-facing and it's far better.
Your eyes are always receiving light, that's how they work. It's not at all obvious to me why an LCD backlight would be different from sunlight or an incandescent light or any other light source.
When it actively hinders the enjoyment of the product, the product just isn’t very good
I'm a bit confused here. In the beginning of your comment, you imply that you haven't used one. Then at the end, you state that the lack of a backlight "actively hinders" the product.
How would you know if the lack of a backlight actively hinders the product, if you haven't used it?
The review indicates that the lack of a backlight isn't a problem at all. That's from someone who's actually used it. How is it that you know more about this product's usability when you haven't used it?
31 comments in, and 90% of the posts here are people who have never used the product complaining how bad it is based on their pre-conceived assumptions, or making wild guesses.
I miss the old days of HN when people would post when they had something substantive to add, not just to slake their vanity by seeing their words in print and pretend they're an expert on things they know little about.
Another thing that's missing is whether the backlight is based on PWM(meaning flashing at some frequency) and what's it's PWM frequency, Because it causes some people headaches.
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