Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!mucs!logitek!grep!frank
From: frank@grep.co.uk (Frank Wales)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: HP-95LX Review
Message-ID: <1991Apr25.144427.22876@grep.co.uk>
Date: 25 Apr 91 14:44:27 GMT
References: <51907@apple.Apple.COM>
Reply-To: frank@grep.co.uk (Frank Wales)
Organization: Grep Limited, LEEDS, UK
Lines: 82

In article <51907@apple.Apple.COM> dan@Apple.COM (Dan Allen) writes:
>The May 1991 issue of PC Computing has a 3-4 page article about the
>HP-95LX, with a distant photo of the machine.  It appears to not be
>touchtypeable, but it looks pretty slick anyway.  It is nice and compact
>and runs for 2-3 MONTHS on 2 AA batteries.  It appears that an AC
>adapter is a $15 option.

It definitely isn't touch-typeable unless you have the hands of a
four-year old child.  It is a very slick-looking piece of kit.  A
reasonable feel for its dimensions can be got by turning a 28 on its
side and imagining the lower half of the case 50% thicker than it is.

HP are sufficiently reluctant about its word-processing abilities that
they played them down at the UK launch of the 95 on Tuesday, in favour
of calling it a "business decision support tool."  A journalist from the
UK magazine Personal Computer World reports that the new Poqet ROM card
of WordPerfect works in it, so there seems to be a potential to steal
much of the effort which has gone into that machine immediately, modulo
any problems with virtual versus real screen size and CGA graphics.  The
machine is claimed to run at two-and-a-half times the speed of a PC-XT,
and uses a custom Intel chip to replace all the circuitry of an XT
except the processor, which is an NEC V20.

Sixty hours is the official battery life estimate; I assume this applies
to alkaline cells rather than rechargeable or cheap batteries.  The
unit has a separate button cell which maintains the contents of
memory while the main batteries are being changed.

>The 95LX has Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus Metro, and the HP-19B in ROM, among
>other things.

Neither HP nor Lotus, who co-hosted the launch, mentioned the names
'Metro' or 'HP 19B' once, that I can remember.  They did discuss in
detail the various features of the software beyond 1-2-3 and the
"full-featured HP financial calculator", as it was referred to.  It's
more than a 19B, because it uses the whole display for interaction -- it
also has the 19BII's choice of RPN or algebraic logic, but with RPN
documented in Appendix D of the hefty User's Manual; the same appendix
refers the interested reader who wants to learn more about RPN to order
an out-of-print book from EduCalc!  RPN is obviously a major selling
point... 

One cute feature is the ability to call on HP Solve from 1-2-3.
Another is that each of the seven principal built-in applications
(Notepad, Schedules, 123, Phone list, Calculator, um, Harpo and Dopey)
has a special key to switch instantly to that application, preserving
any other pending applications where they are at the time.  In normal
use the User need never see the DOS prompt, which must be a good thing.

>It looks like it REQUIRES a separate connectivity pack in
>order to move other DOS programs over from a PC ($99).

The pack contains a neat utility for exchanging information between the
95 and a PC; it shows a split screen of files, one side the files on the
PC and the other the files on the 95.  You just select the files to
transfer from the menu, and they appear on the other side when the
transfer is done.  No messing with configuration options or speeds or
other random details.  The cable which comes with the pack bears a
remarkable resemblance to the RS-232 cable for a certain other HP
calculator product.

I/R exchange between two 95s works much like that between two 48s,
except that the range is supposedly six feet rather than six inches;
obviously engineers and students work closer together than business
decision makers.

A future feature touted at the launch was the planned peripheral,
developed by Motorola, which allows the 95 to act on text paging
messages received in the field.  With a cellular phone attachment,
one could have pocket e-mail.  (Dowty offer this service in the UK 
already, but not as part of a personal computer.)

It will be interesting to compare the success of this machine with the
previous HP/Lotus offspring, the HP-110 (a.k.a. Portable), whose original
version also had a limited screen size and 1-2-3 and DOS in ROM.

Having imagined many useful abilites of the machine, a review of it in
today's Guardian newspaper brings one down to earth by pointing out the
impact this machine may have on the efficacy of insurance salesmen.
--
Frank Wales, Grep Limited,             [frank@grep.co.uk<->uunet!grep!frank]
Kirkfields Business Centre, Kirk Lane, LEEDS, UK, LS19 7LX. (+44) 532 500303