Palm Calculator Comparisons

A capable scientific calculator including a factorial button, with all buttons visible, no changing modes necessary. Preferences include using a period or a comma as the decimal point. A good calculator given the price and size.

2xCalc 3.1

A five function (plus currency conversion) calculator with a dual display for simultaneous viewing of two currencies. Has RPN as an option.

This is primarily a currency calculator, and has been designed as such. The dual display which always shows the current value, plus the current value converted to another currency, is quite effective. Being limited to two digits after the decimal point might be limiting if you're trying to use this as a regular calculator, but shouldn't cause much of a problem when working with currency amounts.

The only surprise came from the calculator's heritage. Having never used an HP RPN calculator, I didn't realize that the CHS meant "CHange Sign" so couldn't figure out how to enter a negative number.

ACCalc 1.04

PalmGear Page
The PilotZone ***

ACCalc is expandable by use of plugin modules, with a menu to select which module is active on the top two rows of buttons. In most cases the buttons that are used in conjunction with each other are together. However, while the base calculator is capable of Hex operations, the A-F buttons are not available unless the "Programmer" plugin is installed and selected. Graffiti input works with or without the plugin, though.

Plugins consist of conversion (measurement and currency)/memory/financial/trig/statistical/bitwise operations, with new plugins added regularly.

AlCalc 0.0.117

This one is for the accuracy fanatics. 128bit signed mantissa, which is 38 digits. Arbitrary base system, 2 to 36. Some binary operations. Not what you're looking for if you want a scientific or financial calculator, but it is interesting to ponder the possibilities.

APCalc 1.97

Gear's Choice! award
The PilotZone *****

This calculator gave me the best first impression. Aside from its programming features, there's nothing surprising about it, it just works well and as expected, with no hidden surprises. A rather comfortable calculator well worth investigating, and gradually becoming my favorite.

APCalc allows arbitrary bases, and different default bases for input and output. On the other hand, working with other bases tends to not be quite as easy as with some of the other calculators, as the user needs to differentiate hex (or any number with a base greater than 10) from variables.

APCalc is also the most actively updated calculator, having been updated twice since I started gathering information from this page. These updates weren't bug fixes, but added features, so it isn't the kind of program you need to stay up to date with, but one you want to stay up to date with.

As a final note, reading the manual for this program is quite useful. As with most calculators, you can achieve basic functionality rapidly, and even use many of the advanced features without consulting the manual. There are, however, features that you aren't likely to learn about without consulting the manual. The "Copy" menu item is a case in point. You'd expect it to work like the "Copy" menu item in any other program, and it does, but with one minor and useful difference. If there is no selection, the current answer gets copied to the clipboard.

BSCalc 1.1

PalmGear Page
The PilotZone ***

Another capable calculator with no surprises good or bad. This calculator seems to be more business oriented, having only fixed decimal output, though the digits behind the decimal can be easily adjusted by two arrows on the screen.

In addition, you can set a large number of digits after the decimal, and if the answer is too large to fit all the digits before and after the decimal, the calculator will truncate (not round) the answer to fit in the display.

BSCalc uses comma seperators in the display, giving you a quick idea of the magnitude of the answer without having to count digits.

BSCalc also has 3 types of memory, if you were wondering about the memory column. There is one memory tied to the M+, MR, and MC buttons, 10 memories tied to STO and RCL, and 6 financial memories that can be used as general memories as well.

CalCOOLator 0.95

This calculator was written when the built in calculator had a nasty bug. Unlike SlimCalc, this one extends beyond the original calculator, rather surprising given its small size. One interesting feature is that you can use square brackets and curly brackets in addition to parentheses.

One interesting, but possibly disturbing, feature, is that at any time that the expression is valid, the result for that expression is displayed. So if you enter 1+1234, you will see 2 displayed as the answer when you've only entered 1+1, and so on, until you see the answer 1235.

CplxCal 3.12 beta

PalmGear Essential!
The PilotZone *****

A surprisingly capable calculator, including the ability to work with complex numbers, something I didn't see in any of the other calculators reviewed here. It's definitely worth looking at.

On the other hand, few of the functions can be entered from the "Normal" calculator. The advanced keyboard has trig and the most common power functions, but even then, many of the less common functions can only be entered with graffiti. This is more because there are about 58 functions, however.

Note that version 3.11 also has a problem where it can return an incorrect answer when entering negative numbers. This is fixed in the latest 3.12 beta.

As a side note, this calculator originally gave a bad first impression through no fault of its own. For some reason, the cursor would stay at the left side of the equation until I moved it somewhere else, so entering 1+2 would result in ans2+1. This was solved by a soft reset of my PIIIx.

Currency Calculator 4.1

This conversion calculator isn't limited to currency, as its name suggests. You can define your own conversions, or use the lists provided to convert many things. Some of the conversions included include julian date conversions, HMS conversion, and more. It also uses plugins to access world time, hex/binary/octal math, and alarm functions.

In addition, it has a healthy amount of scientific functions, including a few combined functions, such as 1/x^2. The scientific functions are triggered by buttons that pop up a dialog with extra buttons, that goes away when you tap any of the buttons. Not as convenient as some of the scientific calculators, but a good way to add scientific functionality to a calculator that had a different design purpose.

One thing that wasn't quite intuitive, but very easy to get used to, was the fact that there was no Copy/Paste functions in the menu. Instead, tapping on the display popped up a two-item menu with both choices. A little quicker than going through a menu on the menu button (two taps, with little movement in between verses tap the bottom area, tap the top, find and tap the menu selection), but there was nothing on screen to indicate that this is how to do a cut or paste. So, you read the documentation (gasp) or find it by accident. A good feature in my opinion, but if you give the calculator too quick a look, you'll miss it.

EasyCalc pre-1.00 dated 10/30/1999

This calculator is a fairly well rounded calculator, offering scientific, financial, binary, and graphing operations. It has six modes of operation, though one mode is variable definition. The only negative is that from the calculation modes, there is no way to list and quickly pick a variable. Personally, I'd prefer more, smaller buttons, but the layouts do work.

One feature that EasyCalc has that few other calculators do is the use of the - button to negate a value. Most other calculators use a +/- key to change the sign of a calculator, but EasyCalc uses the - key in a dual purpose role. Yes, it even evaluates 3--4 as 7. This feature was added after it was pointed out that there wasn't a +/- key on the keyboard, so in order to compute 10^-3, you had to put parenthesis around the -3. And you may ask "Why is using the - button instead of a "+/-" button better?" to which I answer with another question, "What's the graffiti stroke for '+/-'?"

FCPlus Pro 2.0

PalmGear Page
PilotZone *****

If ever there was a financial calculator that drives home the differences between a good scientific calculator and a good financial calculator, this is it. I feel unqualified to review this calculator, because it goes far beyond the normal four extra buttons provided by other financial calculators. It includes statistical functions, two rows of user-customizable buttons, and an RPN mode.

One of the more advanced features that this calculator provides is worksheets, which are basically preprogrammed spreadsheets designed to solve related equations. Even the downloadable demo includes a manual in Adobe Acrobat, at over 100 pages.

While it is the most expensive calculator on the list, it is also the most extensive financial calculator listed, matching most of the features of the high end handheld financial calculators, and one of the few calculators that is Platnium Certified (SynCalc is the other that I'm aware of). There's quite a list of awards it's received; If you're looking for a financial calculator, definitely look at this one.

HCalc 1.0

PalmGear Page
PilotZone

HCalc is primarily a Graffiti-driven calculator, though a powerful one at that. The built-in keyboards can be rather difficult to use because while putting all the numbers on one keyboard, all the letters on a second, and all the punctuation and functions on a third may make sense for a general text input setup, it doesn't work well for a calculator. Still, if your graffiti is strong and you are looking for a scientific and/or hex calculator, this is certainly something to evaluate.

The one downside to HCalc is the rather short evaluation period, combined with the rather nasty effect of exceeding the evaluation period. You have 72 hours to evaluate the software (the shortest time period of all the reviewed calculators by almost a factor of 5). After that you will get the initial about screen, and then a fatal error, requiring a soft reset of the Palm. This could be related to PalmOS 3.3, as I don't think anyone would intentionally crash a pilot like this.

IntCalc 1.1

Another calculator that seems limited to two digits past the decimal point, though there seems to be room for more, so maybe I'm just not finding them. Predominantly a bit-operation calculator, though it does have the type of memory that lists all stored values.

While I like the small buttons, anyone who isn't careful with taps, or is tapping with their fingertip, will have problems hitting the small buttons.

MetriCalc

This calculator is primarily a metric conversion tool, as it is slightly above the standard 4 function calculator due to its inclusion of square, square root, and inverse functions, but has a separate button for each of the metric/English measurements that it will convert.

One+One 1.3

If you want a calculator that looks and feels like a handheld scientific calculator, right down to 2nd and 3rd functions labels on the buttons, then this calculator is for you. It offers extensive financial and scientific functions, and has decimal, hex, octal, and binary input modes, though the upper hex digits must be input via graffiti.

Personally, I find that 2nd/3rd buttons on pilot calculators a bit of a nuisance. The pulldown mode selections tend to work better, in my opinion, largely because they're sticky and more versatile.

PalmSharp 1.2

This program was designed to be familiar to users of the Sharp 1401 calculator. I don't know if I've ever seen one, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the simulation. It does seem to have the expected functionality for a midrange scientific calculator from 1982, except for store/recall functions. For some reason, its icon doesn't appear under Launcher III, but it does appear under the built in launcher. This doesn't mean you can't use it under Launcher III, you just have to look for the entry "PalmSharp" with a blank space where the icon goes.

Parens 1.4

This calculator comes in two versions, one that is stand alone and can run on PalmOS 1, and one that can use MathLib to provide complex math functions. The second program can function without MathLib being present, but trig and power functions will not be available in this case.

Like ACCalc, Parens also allows plugin modules to extend the functionality of the calculator, provided you're not using the stand alone version. Currently, the only plugin is a currency converter, which is available daily on the web site with the latest currency conversion rates programmed into it. An SDK is available for users to create their own plugins. Parens also allows user defined modes, though at this time the only modes allowed are conversion modes.

Visually I don't find Parens comfortable. Every real calculator I know of gave up on the rounded, bubble-buttons used on the 4 function calculators as soon as they passed 20 buttons. Parens has 36 of them, and some are a little hard to read.

PawCalc 0.901b

Gear's Choice! award
Pilot Zone *****

PawCalc looks like a basic calculator on the surface, until you start going into the pulldown menus and the STO and RCL buttons. There you will find named variables, comprehensive scientific and engineering conversions and constants, a full array of scientific functions, as well as some statistical functions.

PopUpCalculator 1.0

This calculator separates itself from the others by being a HackMaster extension. You can pop it up at any time, on top of other applications, and return to the original application easily. It has popup lists for trig and power functions, so it is more functional than a basic calculator, but isn't as comprehensive as some of the other scientific calculators. It has a copy and a paste button, though the copy button doesn't work the same as a copy menu item. Rather than just placing it in the clipboard, this button closes the calculator and inserts the current value at the cursor position of the original application.

While some may find this handy, it's less useful if you're already used to using SwitchHack, though still easier, particularly with apps that don't remember where you were at when switching back to them via SwitchHack.

Programmer's Calculator 2.71

PalmGear Page
The PilotZone ***

This calculator has a programming language that looks much like C, which makes it very simple and powerful for programmers.

While it claims to work for PalmOS 1.0, MathLib doesn't work under same, so many of the functions are unavailable under PalmOS 1.0.

One of the confusing issues with this calculator is that if you enter an expression either by using the buttons, or graffiti at the main screen, it does not use AES to evaluate the expression. If you enter the expression into the expression requester, then it does use AES to evaluate the expression.

SCX 1.51

A 5 function calculator with memory and Cost/Sell/Margin functions. This calculator benefits from large buttons, clear readability, and small program size. While it doesn't have AlCalc's 38 digits, it does have more than most calculators at 30 digits, 15 of which are displayable.

SlimCalc 2.0

SlimCalc is a total clone of the built in calculator put out by USRobotics, fixing the bugs that were in the PalmOS 1 calculator, but adding no new features. If you're not a PalmOS 1 user, you can ignore this one, as it is the same as the calculator in PalmOS 2, and the calculator in PalmOS3 is at least as up to date as this one.

SynCalc 1.59

This is a full featured calculator, though it does take some getting used to. Each of the buttons 0-9, . and = operate as memory, and you can drag values onto them, then later drag the buttons back to the calculation and drop them in place. It does have the ability to list the values in each of the 12 buttons and 26 variables (a-z), though you can't insert values from that display. Similar to other calculators, most functions are accessed from a scrolling list of functions rather than having a button combination for every function.

SynCalc's programmability is limited to something similar to shortcuts, where a given shortcut would always enter the same text.

XCalc 1.1