First Impressions HP 35s



#11

I got my 35s today. I ordered it from the HP website on the 13th. Here are my first impression of the 35s. The description on the website is a little misleading. It implies that the 35s is in box not a blister pack as it actually is. They should restate it to say what is in the package not what is in the box. But I can live with that.

The 35s is a nice size, it fits well in the hand. The keys work well and have a nice click to them. I would still have changed the Sigma and R/S keys. I am very pleased with the return of the double wide Enter key and it being back in its right place. The display is easy to read. Depending on the light source there is a slight glare. The overall color scheme is spot on. The overall design is very pleasing to the eye and it looks like something you would be proud to pull out of your pocket and use. That's all for now. I'm going to go play now.

SN CNA 72103826


#12

Quote:
The overall design is very pleasing to the eye and it looks like something you would be proud to pull out of your pocket and use.

I've heard quite a few people now say it's a nice pocket size.
What kind of pockets do you guys have??

15.8 x 8.2 x 1.82 cm is BIG in my book, too big to be called a pocket calculator IMHO.

It could fit in my lab coat pocket maybe , but not my shirt pocket.

Dave.


#13

I too would like a decent RPN scientific calculator which is truly shirt-pocket size. Something about the size of the 35s' keyboard portion -- and a bit narrower. Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I used to keep my 25c in my pants pocket most of the time (without its case).

The 35s is even taller than the 33s, yet it seems thinner (but it isn't).

Edited: 23 July 2007, 11:21 p.m.

#14

Pocket size that I speak of is dress shirt pockets. With out its case the 35s will fit in a dress shirt pocket with room to spare. Although I have recently bought some polo style shirts that have pockets that I could put 2 48gx in and still have room to spare. I don't care too much for the butterfly case that comes with the 35s. I will be looking for something smaller for pocket use or something for belt use. What would be nice, if some one would come out with an Astec type hard case for the 35s.


#15

Quote:
I have recently bought some polo style shirts that have pockets that I could put 2 48gx in and still have room to spare.

That's just the opposite of my polo-style shirts compared to dress shirts. [Those who may scoff at this statement haven't seen me for a few years!]

Quote:
I don't care too much for the butterfly case that comes with the 35s.

Nor I, but I've used worse. I don't understand why it is a dual-ended zipper. This isn't necessary even though the case can (thoughtfully) be used either right- or left-handed. I yanked the dangling zipper-tab-thing off the lower zipper-end. It was just getting in the way. More recently, I have been using the case from my 33s; it's just faster. The 35s case looks nice though.

Quote:
What would be nice, if some one would come out with an Astec type hard case for the 35s.

Oh yeah! Would that an Astech case was made for every model of calculator!! Interestingly, hp refers to the 35s' case as a "hard" case -- I think that's pushing the meaning of "hard" a bit. It's certainly better than the thin plastic slip-covers they started including with the Pioneers though.

Edited: 24 July 2007, 2:13 a.m.

#16

Quote:
I've heard quite a few people now say it's a nice pocket size.
What kind of pockets do you guys have??

Well, the HP-35 was described as a pocket calculator. It was a tiny bit shorter and a really tiny bin narrower than the 35S, but the latter is much thinner. Not to ignore your point that "pocket size" means smaller than that to you, but I think the benchmark ought to be the stereotypical engineer's shirt pocket. These are commonly thought of as lined with a pocket protector, and stuffed full of drafting pens, notebook and yes, an HP calculator. The 35s's thinness would be a positive boon in that sort of pocket. 8)

Regards,
Howard


#17

Quote:


Well, the HP-35 was described as a pocket calculator. It was a tiny bit shorter and a really tiny bin narrower than the 35S, but the latter is much thinner. Not to ignore your point that "pocket size" means smaller than that to you, but I think the benchmark ought to be the stereotypical engineer's shirt pocket. These are commonly thought of as lined with a pocket protector, and stuffed full of drafting pens, notebook and yes, an HP calculator. The 35s's thinness would be a positive boon in that sort of pocket. 8)


Well I'm an engineer and I don't think I've ever owned a shirt pocket that would fit the new 35S, the old 35, or even my Pioneer. I think we've all been conned!

Technology has progressed just a tad in 35 years and the best they can do is make the 35S thinner than the original? :-/

Dave.

#18

Quote:
.. the stereotypical engineer's shirt pocket.. commonly thought of as lined with a pocket protector, and stuffed full of drafting pens, notebook and yes, an HP calculator.

Right now, the daily "gear" in my shirt pocket is a pen, mechanical pencil, small screwdriver, company photo-ID badge (w/ RFID chip for locked-door entry), and my 11C.

IMHO, the Voyager series is the only true "shirt pocketable" size calculator HP ever made. Everything else is either too tall, too thick, or too wide. This excludes the 6S, 8S, 9G, 9S, and 30S, which aren't "real" HP's anyway, now are they? While, the 10BII fits in a shirt pocket, I don't remember the last time I needed to amortize anything while troubleshooting a control system ;-)

Your friendly, neighborhood stereotypical engineer :-)

#19

Received my 35s (CNA 72103883) from the HP store today too. I ordered it on July 13th and my first impressions are favorable as well. Opening blister packs is a real pain but this product seems to be heading HP back to the calculator reputation it once had; a big improvement over the 33s for sure. If I think as highly of it after some further practice, I will strongly suggest it to my calculus based physics students in the fall. I'd love to introduce RPN into the hearts and minds of today's engineering and science majors and this machine may be the vehicle to do it!

#20

Richard Garner posted:

Quote:
The 35s is a nice size, it fits well in the hand... I would still have changed the Sigma and R/S keys.

I noted the same thing. The basic issue is functional grouping, a good thing which seems to have been followed here at the expense of practicality.

Sigma+ is a data-entry key that also belongs to statistics and probability. On the Voyager-series models (e.g., HP-15C, HP-11C, HP-10C), Sigma+ and Sigma- are adjacent to the main data-entry keys, and also grouped with the prob/stat keys on the bottom row. R/S is grouped on the left side with other keys for programming, such as GTO, GSB, and SST. R/S can be used to allow entry of data, but without prompting, usage is not very obvious.

However, on the programming-friendly HP-41, HP-42S, HP-32S, and HP-32SII, R/S is much more of a data-entry key -- used immediately following a number key. Hence, it took the place of Sigma+, which is seldom used anyway.

The HP-32SII and HP-33S use R/S for completing data entry in Equation mode, and with the INPUT command for programs. Sigma+ was placed on the top row along with the other prob/stat keys. This would have been worth preserving on the HP-35s. However, the cursor keys on the top row displaced the prob/stat keys, which were all moved toward the bottom along with Sigma+. R/S went to the upper-left corner along with other keys for programming. This is very much like -- the HP-15C!

So, the bottom line: Good functional grouping, but diminished practicality for this aspect of the HP-35s.

-- KS


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