TI-nSpire, first impressions

[Don Shepherd]

I attended a workshop this week for teachers on the new TI-nSpire calculator. Very impressive.

Here is a picture.

Here is a review with screenshots.

[Bruce Bergman]

Cool, Don -- thanks for the review!

Looks like an interesting calculator, but man, that keyboard is horrific! What a mess!

thanks,
bruce

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

Thanks for your report. After reading the report and looking at Ti's website, I fail to see any significant difference between the nSpire and the Ti89/Voyage 200, apart from the slightly larger greyscale display of the nSpire and the improved TiConnect software (hopefully also available for the Macintosh like the old one!).

Am I missing something?

Greetings, Max

NB: Anyway, I have no idea how a near-perfect calculator like the voyage 200 could ever be improved :-) (Well, two small items come to mind, a colorful OLED display and an Hp-logo...)

[MacDonald Phillips]

Quote:

---

Hello!

Thanks for your report. After reading the report and looking at Ti's website, I fail to see any significant difference between the nSpire and the Ti89/Voyage 200, apart from the slightly larger greyscale display of the nSpire and the improved TiConnect software (hopefully also available for the Macintosh like the old one!).

Am I missing something?

Greetings, Max

NB: Anyway, I have no idea how a near-perfect calculator like the voyage 200 could ever be improved :-) (Well, two small items come to mind, a colorful OLED display and an Hp-logo...)

---

Yes, you are missing someting. The TI-NSpire CAS does not have the ability to create TI-Basic programs. You can only create functions with the calculator.

Don

[Namir]

Don,

Cool report. Thanks for all the effort to post pictures and your notes. It looks like this machine has way too many buttons. I remember chatting with HP's Cyril about this issue in HHC2006 and he said he was curious about the rate of mechanical failure of the buttons in such a button-rich calculator. I share Cyril's curiosity.

I do plan to buy one though.

Namir

[sjthomas]

Thanks for the posting, but that thing is so butt-ugly, who cares what its functionality is!

[StationEngr]

It would be nice to see HP promote their products to the schools like TI does.

[Jake Schwartz]

I wonder if Saltire Software and Brian Maguire had anything to do with this machine, like they did with the Casio Classpad and the HP Xpander?

Jake Schwartz

[Don Shepherd]

Jake, I don't know, but here are a couple of screenshots from the "about" screen of the nSpire.

[Bruce Bergman]

Hey Don, just a thought. It might be interesting to the crowd at HHC2007 if you were to present something comparing the Nspire and one (or more) of the HP calcs in terms of features, concepts, special functions, etc. I know there are quite a few folks in the group who are interested in the Nsprire, and you probably have more knowledge of it than most of us, especially after three days in training.

Something to think about if you're coming out to San Diego this September!

thanks,
bruce

[Ren]

Judging from all those buttons, I wonder if it (originally planned, does, or will) text messages.

Let's see, if it has bluetooth or blackberry, it could be used for
passing notes in class...

Ren
dona nobis pacem

[Don Shepherd]

Ren, I don't think it has any wireless capability. However, it does have a slot on the front bottom of the case that will accomodate that TI thingy that lets a teacher connect to all the students' calculators in the class, like the current TI-84's.