Calc-12E

Not just another disposable App

The drive behind Calc-12E is quite simple: To make a first quality tool for daily professional use that is a worthy replacement for the HP 12C, an app that you will keep and use, one you will be glad you spent money on. Make no mistake, this is NOT a Hewlett Packard product. They sell their true-to-the-80s copy here. But while building a strict copy is easy, a copy is really a bit of a robbery because a copy does not deliver the new and exciting capabilities that iOS makes possible on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. To remain on your iDevices, we believe Calc-12E must be significantly better than the HP 12C it replaced. Since August of ’08 (this is the premier HP 12C emulator), three out of four copies remain on the customer’s phones and are kept up-to-date... the jury is in. Use it to learn RPN, study for the CFA exam, then keep on using it--on your iPhone, Touch and iPad.

Making it better

Improving on a 30 year gold standard takes more than one or two skillsets. Absolutely the math has to be rock solid, that is a given. Photographing the keyboard works, but is that the best you can get out of the touchscreen? How do you pick from the myriad of “it could do this” choices when adding to the feature set? Support will have to be provided after the sale.

Knowing this, Stone Meadow Development engaged people who are acknowledged experts in their specialties to design the replacement for HP’s 12C from the ground up. The financial algorithms were rewritten specifically for the iOS by a key member of the original 12C team–they are more accurate and three decades faster than the original and absolutely, Calc-12E gets the right answers to the “tough” problems. The interface was designed by the same group that won the Gold award from the Industrial Design Society of America’s Gold for their automated external defibrillator. Graphics were handed to a veteran game artist (they needed to be engaging!). Functionality choices are made in concert with both professional and occasional users to ensure that usability is not lost to feature creep. And customer support email goes directly to the lead programmer. You pay for this app (no ads) and you deserve excellent support.

Throughout the development process, the end game was the focus: this is a tool. Its job is to provide answers. And it can’t provide answers if people can’t use it.

So prove it

As we know, Apple does not allow “try before you buy” and I personally don’t like nags, ads, and having to buy features in-app so while I acknowledge it’s a weak alternative, I made a few videos to demonstrate features that take Calc-12E beyond the realm of original HP 12C. For those that are visiting on their mobile device, you will have to check the videos via the YouTube links -- or search for Calc12E in the YouTube app.

Invest mode. Compare investment scenarios side-by-side. (YouTube)

Visual Cash Flow Editing. Truly out of the dark ages. (YouTube)

Email an Amortization Schedule. Communicate your results. (YouTube)

Blisteringly fast. Redesigned math on modern hardware means no more “running”.

New look or traditional layout, big screen or small...

Calc-12E v4 a universal app that works on iPhone®/iPod touch® just like it always has and it is designed for iPad®. Not the awkwardly sized and less than “beautiful” pixel-doubled rendition, it mimics the actual size of the original. Buy-once, use on all of your iDevices... a two-for-one deal.

Oh. Click on “previous version” to see the reviews, they get hidden with each new release. But they are there and worth a glance.

It’s about time! v4 brings you fully functional portrait mode

Since July of 2008 (yes, that long ago—it is after all, the very first 12C emulator on iOS), Calc-12E has held to the original and highly usable landscape-only format mostly because it provided an obvious transition from a physical calculator to touch. But also because the screen was pretty cramped. As Apple has continued to expand screen space, the usability downside of portrait has all but gone away and frankly, I’m finding it easier to use when holding the phone in its “normal” orientation.

And for those with low-vision or blindness, voiceover has been incorporated. Yep, even in the cash flow viewer/editor.

For now, iPad remains landscape only. Let me know if you’d like to be able to rotate the calculator on your iPad.

One more thing... rotation is painfully slow on the iPhone 4/4S. It works fine when you’re patient but it does take more than a second or two. Unfortunately, this can’t be helped—the 4/4S are showing their age.

Kim