HP 49G+ now available

[Juergen (CH)]

Just saw that a reseller in Switzerland now sells the HP 49G+. Anyone out there who already bought one and can tell us about keys, speed, color scheme, ... ?

I'm looking forward to see the first review here on this forum.

Regards,
Juergen

[Daniel Diggelmann]

Hi all,

The first batch of HP-49G+ arrived in Switzerland yesterday. I preordered one a few days ago and received it today. I'm actually quite impressed how HP came back to the calc market. The calc looks very good with appealing colours. The finish is of good quality. It came in a cardboeard box, USB cable, german manual, CD. What I really like is the genuine leather case with magnetic catch as seen on some ladies handbags. The calc's case feels sturdy and the LCD is of very good contrast. The keys are of hard plastic and do have the good old hinge on the bottom side. They have a very strong click. For me it's very important to be able to do fast entries. This has improved over the HP-49G. But sometimes (seldom) it clicks and the calc doesn't read the key. My calc has got one key y^x which needs s specific pressure (it actually seldom works). I'll return the calc for a replacement after having played whith it. The speed of the calc is very comfortable and plots are very fast compared with the HP-49G. As mentioned on comp.sys.hp48 the speed is 3-5 times the HP-49G. There is a IR port but it doesn't work with my HP-82240B printer. What surprised me a bit is that the installed batteries were already dead. Counting in that this is a brand new product I just hope that it doesn't consume huge amounts of power. Bear in mingd it's a 75MHz CPU! But on most PDAs it's actually the background lighting of the LCD which eats a lot of power. The port is now IrDA compatible which makes sense. With the SD card it should be possible to have all programs from HPCALC.ORG on-board :)
All in all I'm happy with HP's new creation. More comments to come soon.

[christof (NoVA US)]

Pictures!

[V-PN]

http://www.hpcalc.org/hp49gplus.php

[christof (NoVA US)]

I was hoping for the actual device with case and manual (at least a size referent) :)

[V-PN]

Look at the page I gave to you. It's all there. The detailed information tells it is the same size as the older models.

[Scuba Diver]

I like the sound of the leather case...I'd like to see what it looks like!

[christof (NoVA US)]

Look- I *did* look at the site. I have been there several times over the past few weeks. I said- not the pictures i'm looking for.

Agian, to be clear: the site lacks additional photographic information I am interested in. I have been to the site. Many times.

Okay, let's get into it, then.

1: the main photo on the page is an obvious marketing picture and has no real 'how it feels in the hand' referents.

2: the close up photos of the usb and sd ports don't give us a lot about the case construction, just 2 limited views of the slots.

3: there's no photo of the manual (a sample page isn't a manual) nor the case at all.

4: How's the screen look in light? what's the contrast like? Marketing photos are NEVER right in that regard.

Now, can you stop implying I'm incapable of web browsing? :)

[Brandon Del Bel]

hahaha

[V-PN]

http://www.live-id.org/hp49gplus/

[Raymond Del Tondo]

As usual with the newer 'hp' machines: Unreliable keyboard.
Not much to add...

Raymond

(Reference:http://www.live-id.org/hp49gplus/)

[Michel Beaulieu]

My HP-20S, 30S 48G, 6S, 38G don't have any Keyboard problem. Even my HP-49G, no contact problem ,it's just a bad feeling but no problem with newer keyboard for me. The only calcs i have with keyboard problem is my C, CV and CX HP-41's halfnut (none of my fullnut have problem) And a lot of my older TI calculators ;-) have problem of bouncing ;-)

[Daniel Diggelmann]

I made a few pictures of my machine:

http://members.fortunecity.de/aerobat/index.html

Cheers Daniel

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Hi Daniel,

please show the unit on the 20th in Basel.

And don't forget your Omnibook;-)

Regards,

Raymond

[Daniel Diggelmann]

Hi Raymond,

I'll sure bring the HP-49G+ I actually bought it so early to have it for the meeting. And yes the OmniBook will be my companion.

Looking forward to seeing you :)

[James Stephens]

Do I understand this correctly: the calculator comes with manuals on CD and there is a (printed) Quick-start Guide?

Thank you.

[Juergen Rodenkirchen]

Right! See Daniels post below for more information!

[Pierre Brial]

Manuals on CD are the worst marketing invention of the past ten years. Did HP give a free computer in order to read the CD ?
What about peoples who don't have a computer (yes, that still exist) ? And if you want to bring your calculator on travel ?
Do at least Hp offer a paper manual on request ?

All the Best

Pierre

[Mike]

That has to be the ugliest calculator I have ever seen in my life.

I wonder what the person, who designed it, was smoking. Better yet, I wonder what the person who approved the design was smoking.

UGLY!

[Tom Scott]

Apparently they tried to make it look like a cell phone.

Tom Scott
Lander, WY

[Paul Brogger]

I appreciate the several positive points mentioned, but I find this early report of keyboard trouble worrisome, especially in light of what folks have said about 10Bii keyboards. Problems already in a sample of size=one. Ouch!

[dbrunell]

One solution to this problem is to keep returning your calculators to the store until you get a good one with no bad keys (assuming one exists). If everyone does this, the rejects will pile up at HP pretty quickly and they will learn the benefits of designing things correctly the first time. Sadly, they once understood this. True, the old HP used to turn out occasional bad products, but usually it was because of the engineers trying to be "clever." The solderless Spice series and the battery door on the 28S come to mind. Now it's just junk.

I have an assortment of HP classics, a TI-92 plus with a fantastic RPN shell (and a large ENTER key :), and an iPAQ. Of what value would a 49G+ be to me if the keyboard stinks?

[christof (NoVA US)]

Wow-

(great pictures.)

given the photos, I have to say that this looks like an amazing beast. the display really is a step up, probably better even than the 32Sii contrast.

I'm willing to see how the keyboard works out, but I'll say that (and I have a ti89, as well as 48sx/gx and 49g) this looks like a winner. In terms of speed, adaptability (someone will shortly put onboard assemblers in), and usability (aside fromt he possibly bad keyboard) this beats the 89 hands down. I'll bet it's a matter of months before usb keyboard drivers appear for those of us who like to develop onboard, too :)

Overall I think that the design team has made massive improvements in looks. The calculator is actually pretty again- and the case is a drastic improvement over the recent trends of calculator slide on covers.

I'm personally pretty excited (not quite enough to struggle with a german manual, though).

(and great pictures!)

-Christof

[Joe Edwards]

What RPN shell are you using on your TI 92? Thanks.

Joe

[dbrunell]

Re: RPN on TI 89/92/V200

I'm using RPN 2.022 by Lars Frederiksen. Here's the link:

http://www.paxm.org/symbulator/download/rpn.html

[Gene]

I don't know how much I'd make of the keyboard reports so far. I think I would wait until it is actually introduced in the US, whenever that is.

Early models are often in a state of flux. Imagine the mess the 41c would have been in had the internet existed in the first few weeks when bugs were found.

HP knows the keyboard is important. I am sure they read the letters about the 49G's terrible keyboard.

They appear to be back in the market to stay and if these first ones aren't as good as we like, give them the benefit of the doubt and a few weeks / months to respond...or just wait until the intro is official, at least. :-)

Gene

[Paul Brogger]

Note I didn't say it's the end of the world, just that I'm worried . . .

[BTW, it appears (unless I've misread things) that two out of two reports mention keyboard quirks. Double-ouch!]

And, to compound the worry: if anyone thinks the HP calculator division, anxious to show profitability on these new products, is going to trash their initial production run and the internal keyboard designs and spruce things up (to release an HP-49G+iiBetaSuperSportUltraModified?) -- well let's just say that I'm guarding against over-optimistic thinking.

Now, if H-P can exert some serious pressure upon its supplier... well that's another matter entirely. I hope they wrote some sort of "acceptance clauses" into their contract with Kinpo (or whomever)!

[Gene]

Again, I am just trying to get people to wait until it's been available in the US before jumping to conclusions. I don't think these very early 49G+ are going to be indicative of the way things will be soon. There are always kinks early. Just look at the 41c..."Not saving x to lastx when pressing Sigma+? How dare they!"

:-)

HP knows the importance of the keyboard...just look at the return of the "click".

I am confident in the HP future.

[Juergen Rodenkirchen]

Daniel, thanks a lot indeed for this first review of the new HP49G+. As I can see from the pictures that you put on your web-site (thanks again), the manual included in the package probably is just the "Quick Start Guide". As Eric reported at hpcalc.org regarding the new HP48GII,

Quote:

---

I also have a copy of the first 175 pages of the 48GII documentation (this is the "Quick Start" guide). The first production
calculators will only come with the Quick Start Guide, but there should be a coupon included to receive the full manual (800
pages or so) free of charge.

---

I was wondering if this is also true for the 49G+. So, my question if the package actually does include such a coupon for the complete manual?

Regards, Juergen

[Daniel Diggelmann]

Hi Juergen,

My package didn't come with a coupon. The printed manual is a quickstart manual but it's quite good. The CD includes a PDF file with almost 1000 pages! This manual is very good and seems to be from G. Urroz which wrote the two manuals for HP-49G.
All in all the HP-49G+ is an interesting machine. On the other hand the keyboard can be a knockout criterium for a calc. In my opinion todays the main reason to use a calculator instead of a PC is the ease of keying-in numbers. Ol' HP did use to have not only excellent software, good manuals but also very very good keyboards. And they should definitely find a way to improve the keys of the new calcs. I mean compared to a HP 30S the HP-49G+ is much more HP look and feel (except for the keys). But they seem to have tried to redo the hinged keys. They just did not get them right first time. The thing is that a quality check on the prototypes would have shown this in the very first minutes of operation. But I'm positive that HP will work on it or they will loose the calc market completely. Students and professionals need a calc to do their number entries without always checking the display. To sum it up: Except for the keys the HP-49G+ is certainly the most powerful calc availabe. The next thing I will check is the power drain compared to the HP-49G. I'll measure this with a HP-3468A Digital Multimeter connected to the HP-41CX :) Stay tuned...

[Juergen Rodenkirchen]

Hi Daniel,

thanks a lot for answering and the new information and ...

Quote:

---

Stay
tuned...

---

Will do! :-)

Juergen

[eddie]

The HP 49G+ will be available in the US around Sep 24th
You can pre-order at http://www.samsoncables.com/catalog/prodDetail.cfm?Prod_ID=360

[Y K Wong]

Guys,

It is also available in Singapore now, check this out http://www.educalc.net/ , if you place the order now, perhaps you can have it before Sep 24th!

I was told that the "sample" 33S and 48GII are also available for hand-on preview - sorry folks, only if you are in Singapore ;-)

Cheers