Your experience with the Sure View feature is pretty strange - I used an Elitebook 1040 with Sure View a couple of years ago, and now I'm using a newer 1040 without it and I missed this feature A LOT.
I had absolutely no limitaion of side view if the Sure View is disabled (it can be enabled and disabled using a dedicated function key) and the screen was amazing and fully visible from any angle with Sure View disabled - but pressing the Sure View key I can see only from a very strict angle and I can work in plane or in train without any worry.
Based on my experience in the past years, I have the serious impression that the unit you tested is somehow defective and the Sure View tecnology has been always enabled during your tests.