Calculate This, Texas Instruments!

HP is apparently back in the calculator biz! This press release says their releasing three new calculators, a successor to the HP 49G, a new financial calculator, and a new entry-level calculator.

The HP 49g+ is the new flagship high-end technical graphing calculator, and it has a crazy number of very up-to-date features. Here's a sampling from HP's page on the 49g+:

• 75Mhz ARM9 processor
  
• 2MB Flash ROM (800 KB user)
  
• 512 KB RAM (330 KB user)
  
• 131 x 80 pixel screen resolution
  
• RPL support
  
• SD card expansion port
  
• USB link cable
  
• IrDA
  

HP is already touting the software upgradability features through the use of Flash ROM and the USB link cable. The design of the 49g+ is significantly different from older HP G series machines, including the 49G. The ENTER key is still small and in the lower right hand corner, as it was on the 49G, and the buttons appear to be soft, but the color and shape of the 49g+ is all new. The four-way directional buttons are now circular, and might be hard, but it's difficult to tell from the picture on HP's site. They do appear to be very different from the rest of the buttons though.

What's more, RPN lives on! This statement by Fred Valdez, GM of HP's Calculator Division, talks about about the continued support of RPN. It seems that the future for HP calcs is support for both alegbraic and RPN, with a mode to switch between them. The new "platinum" HP 12C released earlier this year was shipped in algebraic mode by default.

Great to see HP back in the calculator business, especially in the high end, giving competition to Texas Instruments once again, and innovating in the space without getting rid of well-worn historical features that make HP calculators such a joy to use.