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this is exactly what I have been looking for all these years. I hope that the keyboard construction is good (this is usually the biggest problem with similar devices) and that the screen is touch sensitive (like Palm PDAs where you do not have to use the stylus)
If this one is like the other recent HP calcs where you can load your own OS, then, I'd simply get rid of all the graphical stuff and load an HP-41 emulator instead 1/2 :-)
Enough of dreaming though. Remember that simply applying for a patent does not mean that HP is even thinking
about releasing such a product. Look at Xpander, it was killed far far further down the road.
Finally I liked very much the claim that it'll have a one page manual! (what no 900 page AUG on CDROM?)
**vp
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Yuk. Not as ugly as some other recent HP offerings, unless they choose one of their typically horrible color schemes. But it still lacks a double-sized ENTER key. And a one-page instruction manual?! Those two items alone make it a non-starter as far as I'm concerned.
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A new device named "CYRI" and the Inventor named "Cyrille" de Brebisson? What are the chances?!?! The stars must be aligned, if I were him I'd be buying lottery tickets. j/k <8^)
Cyrille really is a great guy. I was lucky enough to meet him and JYA a few years ago at the two HandHeld conferences held up here in the pacific northwest. I got a slightly odd look when we shook hands, as my name sounded almost similar to their own "Meta Kernel" that they had incorporated into the new 49G's operating system. I guess that would have been a good time for me to buy lottery tickets!! :-) As it turned out, all the attendees were given new 49G calculators, complete with firmware version 1.05.
Matt
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I am not sure how "new" it is considering th patent is over a year old.
TW
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So the "invention" here is a minimalist keyboard and manual, implying radical simplicity in design and use. It's not my cup of tea, complexity junkie that I am, but I must say the idea strikes me as a marketplace winner. I believe that HP surrendered control of the scientific calculator market when they made the switch to RPL. The increased complexity of those models, particularly when compared to the easier to use TIs of the day, condemned them to niche status.
I know I'm, um, over-simplifying a, er, complex issue with this analysis. But I still believe something along the lines of this machine could steal significant share from TI in the high-school market, if not at the universities.
TI hasn't done much innovation in their user interface in quite a while. The complacency of a secure market leader can be the best hope of a would-be usurper. It would also be amusing to see a behemoth like today's HP play the role of the agile upstart, or start-up or something like that. 8)
Regard,
Howard
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If only it had RPN, at least as an option!
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The patent was filed in August 2003. It has not been granted yet, what you see is an application publication.
If they were intending to release the device, they would already have done so.
Personally, I hope my stash of RPN devices will last me for the rest of my life. There is no need to buy a new device, esp. one that does not have a double-width ENTER^ key.
