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From: Wes on 5 Jun 2010 15:10
TI recently introduced a new version of the Nspire called the Nspire
Touchpad which has a new keyboard layout. (http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-
sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv019.cgi?read=164410)

The reason I mention it here in comp.sys.hp48 is because of its
"enter" key. The keyboard has over a half-dozen different sized keys,
but the enter key is a wider than any of the others. Let's hope HP
will be "inspired" to follow suit and return to a wider Enter key.

This new keyboard with its touchpad arrow keys is slick but quirky. I
count 8 different sized keys. The keys at the top have the typical TI
soft gentle feel, slightly mushier than HP'ers like, but not
horrible. The bottom alpha keys are very tiny and have a very stiff
click to them. (Reminds me of the 49g+.) Between the different sizes
and different feels, using it is like walking up uneven stairs with
one bare foot. I find it hard to get the feel of it -- there's no
"rhythm."

The layout is also mixed in my opinion. They went from an over-
crowded feeling keyboard to a very sparse one. There's plenty of
empty space on the keyboard, yet the main operations ( + - * / ^ ) are
on very tiny keys, and the trig functions (sin, cos, tan) are accessed
only through a trig menu button.

The new Nspire's keyboard is detachable and can be replaceable for
$10. Last month, the "/" key on my HP-50g suddenly went mushy and is
difficult to use, so right now this replaceable keyboard seems like a
very good idea. I sure wish I could just replace my keyboard without
having to replace the whole calculator. (I borrowed my son's 50g and
his "/" key also feels softer than the rest of the keys. Anybody else
having trouble with their "/" key? Is it a design flaw in the
calculator? or a family genetic issue which causes us to get over
enthusiastic about division?)

The replaceable keyboard makes sense from the business side too.
Think about how much money HP could have saved on the 49g+ if they
could have just replaced the faulty keyboard instead of the whole
calculator.

-wes
From: Joel Koltner on 8 Jun 2010 16:29
"Wes" <wjltemp-gg(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:27203d81-e6de-41a6-9213-33cf0d2b5a82(a)r27g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
> The reason I mention it here in comp.sys.hp48 is because of its
> "enter" key. The keyboard has over a half-dozen different sized keys,
> but the enter key is a wider than any of the others. Let's hope HP
> will be "inspired" to follow suit and return to a wider Enter key.

They did so on the 35s.

I very much doubt HP will choose to release any calculator on the order of
complexity of an Nspire or the 50G, though.

> The layout is also mixed in my opinion. They went from an over-
> crowded feeling keyboard to a very sparse one. There's plenty of
> empty space on the keyboard, yet the main operations ( + - * / ^ ) are
> on very tiny keys, and the trig functions (sin, cos, tan) are accessed
> only through a trig menu button.

This seems to be a trend -- no doubt inspired by cell phones, where so many
today (e.g., the iPhone!) only have one or a few buttons and everything else
is done via a touch screen. I've noticed the same thing with car stereos:
Relatively few actually have hard buttons for presets anymore, instead you
press a "memory" button and then scroll through your 6 choices or whatever.

All of this strikes me as compromise that sometimes makes devices easier for
beginners, often makes the device look less "intimidating," but unfortunately
almost always reduces the productivity of an "expert user."

> The new Nspire's keyboard is detachable and can be replaceable for
> $10. Last month, the "/" key on my HP-50g suddenly went mushy and is
> difficult to use, so right now this replaceable keyboard seems like a
> very good idea.

Interesting -- they're perhaps thinking of custom keyboards? Their response
to the keyboard overlay approach that HP has had for so long?

---Joel

From: Wes on 9 Jun 2010 13:15
On Jun 8, 11:29 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...(a)yahoo.com>
wrote:
> This seems to be a trend -- no doubt inspired by cell phones, where so many
> today (e.g., the iPhone!) only have one or a few buttons and everything else
> is done via a touch screen.

Yet the new Nspire keyboard still has 71 buttons!

> Interesting -- they're perhaps thinking of custom keyboards?  Their response
> to the keyboard overlay approach that HP has had for so long?

In the first version of the Nspire, only the non-CAS version had the
replaceable keyboard. You could swap it out for a TI-84+ keyboard.
Now that they've come out with the new keyboard, the non-CAS
calculators can be upgraded. I guess that seemed beneficial enough
that they've made the CAS version keyboards replaceable as well.

-wes
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