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Texas Instruments Announces New Calculator

Posted by Hemos on from the put-in-all-your-school-info dept.

S. Kinney writes "TI recently announced the development of a new calculator, known as the Voyage 200, to replace the TI-92+. The software changes are rather minor, as the device is designed to be compatible with the 92, though the addition of a clock makes the Voyage more functional for some, and the case of the device enjoys a new design. Perhaps the most useful upgrade to the 92+ is the addition of more memory, for a sum of 2.7 MB of storage. No word on release date, but it'll be interesting to see how this comes out. It may be one more step towards releasing a modern-day Avigo, their failed PDA from a few years back. "

2 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. HP is still the King by Hougaard · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I'm using my trusty HP-42S and will keep doing that until I can get hold of the brilliant HP-16C :)

  2. Defending RPN and HP calculators by HalfFlat · · Score: 4, Offtopic

    I freely admit, when I was first introduced to RPN on a calculator, it seemed odd. Yet it's not some bizarre geek snobbery that has me say that it's worthwhile - after getting used to it (and it did not take long, really) it really is much more efficient.

    • Quicker entry - no need for explicit entry of matched parentheses.
    • Consistent entry - all operators act like postfix operators. Algebraic and non-scientfic calculators have a mixture of infix, prefix and postfix operators.
    • Easy viewing of intermediate calculations - at least on large-display RPN calculators. This allows on-the-fly checking of the calculation which can catch errors early.

    Speaking of HP calculators in particular, they do or did have a couple of very strong points that tended to distinguish them from their peers:

    • Very robust! Renowned for withstanding accidents, drops, etc.
    • Good tactile feedback on the keys (the latest one excepted.) The HP-28*,48* had great keypads, unrivalled on any other calculator I've used.

    The later HP graphic calculators also supported an algebraic entry mode for those who found it easier or more intuitive than RPN.

    I'm glad your TI worked well for you! But there are good reasons why the HP calculators are so widely recommended.