TI-89 annoyances Message #5 Posted by Karl Schneider on 1 Jan 2007, 2:59 a.m., in response to message #1 by David
All in all, I'd consider the TI-89 a much better-engineered device than its "contemporary" HP-49G, based on owning the HP-49G and having experimented with the TI-89. I have not tried the new derivatives of the HP-49G, nor do I intend to. They are still based on the same flawed paradigm.
The TI-89, though, is also not without its annoyances. A previous poster mentioned the shifted trigonometrics. The keys are cheaply-made and mushy, with little travel -- certainly not up to "old HP" standards, including the HP-49G.
What bothers me about the TI-89 is that tiny input buffer on the lower part of the screen. Granted, it's very high resolution, but many people over 40 would need reading glasses to see it. I suppose that wasn't the target market, anyway...
I also tried a function-catalog listing, and the first screen of functions it showed me was what I believe to be a bunch of arcane plotting commands. There's just so much "stuff" in it, one sometimes has to browse or dig to find what is really wanted -- kind of like an abominable US big-city Sunday newspaper.
Even though the TI-89 is still readly available, I didn't like it or the TI-86 well enough to pay the retail price. Instead, I got a used TI-82 for US$25 to see how TI "does things". And, those new stylized versions (e.g., TI-89 Platinum) are even less appealing to me.
-- KS
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