Retro Calculator Apps for iPhone/iPod Touch [Inspired by HP 12C & HP 15C Classics]

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be somewhat obsessed with calculators – something that’s probably got its origins in my financial background. And, if you not only have a particular penchant for adding machines but you also dig that retro vibe you may be interested in the gloriously nostalgic retro inspired calculator apps just released to Apple’s App store which replicate the classic HP 12C and HP 15C calculators and which hail from non other than HP themselves.

The HP 12C and HP 15C scientific calculator apps not only serve as exquisitely faithful, virtual reproductions of the actual devices but, whilst not only looking great, also boast all the functionality offered by the HP 12C and HP 15C which, in their day, were considered the pinnacle electronic adding machines.

Both apps work in both portrait and landscape orientations, the portrait version serving as a basic RPN calculator whilst the landscape versions offer the full calculator in all its magnificent glory and offer some pretty serious capabilities including up to 448 line programmability, matrix calculations and complex functions.

Interestingly whilst, in the main, feedback is extremely positive it’s interesting to note some user criticisms and certainly from one user in particular who states that their app ‘makes a loud click sound whenever you press an on-screen button’ and the somewhat more laudable ‘I’m not sure if it’s really necessary to emulate the brush metal surround for the LCD screen’.

Now, I’m sorry, perhaps it’s me, but I feel that perhaps this user has, shall we say, missed the point. Or is it just that they’re what others would doubtless refer to as ‘not the sharpest tool in the box’. Obviously, if they happen to read this, we assume it’s the former whilst assuming that everyone else reading this assumes it’s the latter.

In terms of pricing, the HP 12C iPhone/iPod Touch Scientific Calculator App will set you back around a cool $15 whilst the HP 15C inspired version comes in at $30 which, we grant you, appears reasonably steep. But when you consider that these machines (real not virtual) used to retail at around $150 a pop back in the ’80’s it helps to put a little perspective on that matter.

That said, at these price points, many will find these a little too rich for their tastes whilst those, like me, who love calculators and all things retro may initially hesitate but wil probably take the jump regardless – and not regret it for a minute.