Are You an HP Calculator Geek? There’s an App for That.
By Jason Meserve | Friday, June 26, 2009 at 4:05 pm
If you hate the iPhone’s built-in calculator and long for your old HP calculator with its programmable goodness and fancy built-in algorithms, you can now download three classic apps from the iTunes App Store to emulate the HP 12c, HP 12c Platinum, and HP 15C.
The new apps give you all the functionality of your trusty hardware version with some new features such as a tip calculator that shows up when the phone is in portrait mode. Most of the advanced features of the calculators can be accessed by rotating the iPhone into landscape mode, and the cheat sheet formulas found on the back of the hardware counterparts can be accessed by tapping on the HP logo to “flip” the calculator over.
Even better, things run a little faster given the iPhone’s far superior processing capabilities. The hardware calculators run on a 4-bit processor and can’t even make phone calls.
HP fans will have to pony up a little dough for privilege of turning their iPhone into their favorite HP calculator. The HP 12c is available for $15, the HP 12c Platinum is $20 (which is due in August), and the HP 15c is $30. Before you complain, a hardware version of the 12c costs $69.99 while the 12c Platinum is $79.99. HP no longer makes the 15c, but you can find them on eBay with prices starting around $130.
I am just waiting for Texas Instruments to make an iPhone version of my old TI-81 graphic calculator. I could plot out a mean sine wave with that baby.
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June 26th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
There’s an unauthorized TI-83 emulator called the PI-83. Not terribly good though.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Me. I want my good ol’ TI-55 back. My dad bought it for me when I was a senior it high school, and it died on my just after I finished taking my last final in college. What are the odds, huh?
June 26th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Reverse Polish Notation! Too bad HP is overcharging for these. Jason Snell turned me on to the cheaper PCalc. I took the free version for a spin, which also includes a RPN mode. Happy with my non-purchase. 🙂
June 27th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Are these officially from HP? I’m not a calculator geek by any stretch of the imagination, but boy would I like to be! I know there is a whole different world out there when it comes to these things – it’s like Mac vs. PC! I remember hearing about it on Buzz Out Loud.
July 24th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Do you have an HP financial calculator available for the Droix X?