Musings and comments about our common interest
The new scientific calculators from HP, part I: the HP-10s+
Please take a look to this picture comparison between both old and new calculators. The new model has a much nicer body - it doe not look cheap as the former model.
Can you draw any resemblance from the new calculator body? Can you see an iPhone shape in it?
The keyboard is not your typical HP one. It is not the click-and-rotate type. It has the same feel of the original HP-10s. However, the keys are bigger and easier to strike.
It looks as an student calculator. In that respect, it is a requirement that the screen and keyboard is protected by a cover. That cover slides well, much better than the previous one, and has a better feel even than the HP39GII's. It will resist the drops from your son or nephew nicely.
The keyboard mapping is exactly the same as the previous unit, so no comment here. And no, it is not RPN - not an option! We've been told that this is an specification for the lower end HP calculators: "thou shall not have RPN, even as an option."
I am not familiar with other brands' calculators, so I had to go to google to find something similar in the market…but I found it!
A game: find the similarities between these 2 pictures:
By the way, the HP300s+ has been shipped to the first customers already!
The New HP10s+
A couple of pictures are worth 2000 words:
Compare the aspect and the quality with the previous iteration (itself a "II" version:)
Clearly, it looks like the Iphone 4 has influenced the shape and the styling of the new machine. We have been told that they have been manufactured by Kinpo, and that its innards and firmware have been used in other machines by other producers. However, we have been told as well that the keyboard quality is much better than that of the previous machine. As of now, we have not received yet the new machine (we hope to have some units early next week, and as soon we get hold of them, we will post it here and as well on our newsletter).
Apparently, the key layout is the same. May we infer that the function set is the same? We'll see it next week, as well as a review of the new calculators (do not forget the 300s+)