Better than the original
I have owned nearly every HP calculator ever made. I was one of the first to own the HP-41. I still remember driving from Seattle to Corvallis, the day it was released, oh so many years ago, just to get one. I was just as egar to own i41CX, for the iPhone. It works nearly identical to the real HP-41. The ability to load nearly every module that was developed for the HP-41 makes it a truely excellent calculator. It's built-in dynamic overlay changer is awesome. It's built in printer, with ability to save printout and mail, works better than a real printer. Your ability to write your own programs offline and download to the i41CX via the internet, is a function that HP would have only dreamed of. But the best part of the i41CX is the accessibility of the author, to answer questions and tweak the program to make it better. If you have a question, just ask the author.
Show less
Great calculator, but three issues...
As of today (Oct. 27, 2008), I enjoy using the i41CX+ calculator on my iPhone, but I'm thinking I'll try out a couple of others, for the following three reasons:
1. The "plus" key symbol is flattened, so it looks too much like a "divide" key at a glance (see other HP calculators in the App Store for comparison).
2. The key click sound is delayed on the first key press... sometimes it is non-existent. The lag on the sound is like typing text in a terminal program and not seeing my characters until half a second after I type them. It's confusing and slows me down.
3. This is the biggest issue to me: If I leave this app running and let the display go to sleep on its own, by the next morning my iPhone's battery is totally dead. This has happened twice when I forgot to press the Home button after using the calculator app. This is unacceptable. A real calculator knows when to power itself down to save the battery. The app should do the same.
Show less
HP-41 lives on in emulation
This is a -perfect- emulation of the HP-41C calculator. If you used one of these "back in the day" and loved the calculator---as so many users did---then you'll love this. Others might find things to criticize. It doesn't have any features that the old 41c didn't, no multiline display, and the caculator and programming language use RPN. Oh, yes, it is fully programmable, because it is a complete implementation of the original.
In addition, you can download ALL the ROMs ever released for the 41c and install them as you like, including the famous "PPC ROM". (Maximum of 4 at a time, like the original calculator) This is a tremendous resource, still very useful 25 years after all that software was created.
Manuals are available online. It is interesting to look at those again, after 25 years of not progamming this device. The elegance and minimalism of this calculator still shines through and it is a pleasure to see the care that was taken to revive this in a perfect replica of the original.
Show less
Brilliant
It was a sad day when my HP15C got run over by a garbage truck. So I was thrilled to see this app. As far as I can tell it works, and gives correct answers, although it's a bit scary placing trust in a phone app for "serious" calculations.
To the writer: please, please, please make a version using the HP15C landscape format.
Show less
Just like my original
An old friend returns
Stunningly complete implementation
Used to live on my HP-41C back in the good ol' days. Great to see an HP-41C app for the iphone. Even greater to see how good and complete an implemention it is! For example, there are lots of add-in modules for the physical calculator, and to use those in the emulator just go to the config screen, select the module you want, and it's contents are downloaded and added to the calculator. Also, all of the keyboard overlays (plastic things that go over the keyboard to show other features assigned to the keyboard by loaded programs) are virtually available to display on the screen. Runs programs, can be programmed, all like the real thing. Btw, if you load the "game" module and run "pinball", you'll see how to implement a pinball game with just one line of LCD display. To think some people (ahem) used to play games like that... :-)
Show less
Can't wait for the update
By far the coolest app for iPhone/iPod Touch so far... that is, if you are a middle aged geek who remembers or still has a precious real 41 which s/he doesn't want to carry around for fear of damage/loss/some other unimaginable disaster.
For younger audience, 41 was the iPhone of its day. In those days, unlike today, handheld gadgets (calculators like 41, 67, 71b, 57, 58C, 59, 502p, 602p, 1211, 1500, 1251, 1260, 1403...) were all directly programmable on the actual device, ad hoc, on the go. And that is the main point of this application - i41cxp makes iPhone programmable on the go in a lovely old fashioned ad-hoc way.
Five stars: minor cosmetic complaint (sharpness of the bitmap) and the user mode issue (which cannot be overcome by duplicating X register as it duplicates X register and disturbs the stack) are not enough to take away the fifth star.
Show less
Nice for Nostalgia
This is a very accurate simulation of the venerable 41CX. It sure does a great job of reproducing the experience of using that calculator, right down to pac loading, programming, and even printing! That’s great for that nostalgic feeling of reliving the “grand old days”, but it won’t be my day-to-day calculator. I just can’t remember all of those old functions (except, for some reason, the triangle functions, like SAS, SSS, etc), and no longer have the quick reference cards around. Nor would I want to use them even if I had them; I like the ease of use of modern calculators.
It does deliver just what it promises, but I’m still waiting for a great programmable RPN calculator with a large, multi-line display, with modern ease of use and maybe even graphing capabilities. In other words, an HP 48 or 49 emulator.
Still, I’ll give this one four stars just because it emulates the 41 series so well. The lack of that one last star is due to not making use of the potential of the modern interface and memory to provide online support for all those functions that I forgot and would have to look up to properly use now. And perhaps an option for a multi-line display of the stack, with more than four levels and a more legible screen, which would be a less realistic, but more useful mode for everyday use.
Show less
The 41C I Used in College, but Thinner!
For years I have longed to have the 41C back that I used in college. It was a gigantic calculator in today's terms, but its functionality was superb. From the little bit I've tested this application, it is an excellent rendition of the original--only in a much more svelte package (the iPhone). I look forward to running all the functionality through its paces. Until then, I'm quite pleased with what I've seen. This is the second most money I've paid for an application, but at the price it's still a value.
Show less
Outstanding implementation
The HP41C was a benchmark for calculating - handheld computing - when released in 1979, and HP were still selling an updated variant in the same form factor as late as 1990.
It's back, it's in my iPhone, and it works.
If you've ever loved and/or lost your HP41C, grab this app. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Show less
