And yes, TI calculators have indeed been improving, apparently.
The TI-84 Plus is a graphing calculator made by Texas Instruments which was released in early 2004. There is no original TI-84, only the TI-84 Plus, the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition models, and the TI-84 Plus CE. The TI-84 Plus is an enhanced version of the TI-83 Plus. The key-by-key correspondence is relatively the same, but the TI-84 features improved hardware. The archive (ROM) is about 3 times as large, and the CPU is about 2.5 times as fast (over the TI-83 and TI-83 Plus)[citation needed]. A USB port and built-in clock functionality were also added. The USB port on the TI-84 Plus series is USB On-The-Go compliant, similar to the next generation TI-Nspire calculator, which supports connecting to USB based data collection devices and probes, and supports device to device transfers over USB rather than over the serial link port.
are there any applications for calculators anymore? I feel like since everything can be done on our phones or computers, what’s the point of a dedicated piece of hardware that’s generally inferior?
Focus/concentration, kinda like how George R R Martin writes on an old DOS computer to eliminate distractions while writing (bad example for expediting work, I know). Still requires you to do a lot of the heavy lifting, which instills knowledge for the future.
There’s also an element of trust; schools generally trust Texas Instruments that their products do math correctly (you’d be surprised how many calculators don’t), the same cannot be said for MegaPower Graphing Calculator Pro (Ad-Free Premium) off of the Play Store.
What do you mean generally inferior?
It has physical buttons, no distractions, and the batteries last forever compared to a phone.
Except when you put it in “exam mode” and the LED stays lit until the battery dies.
I use a calculator at work, i could use the one in my phone. I like using my calculator though.
taking tests
Inferior hardware doesn’t mean inferior performance. Phones do much more than calculators, and calculators just calculate.
Pacemaker hardware is a million times less powerful than mobile phone hardware. But I trust it more to keep the heart going.
I have an HP prime I use at home and work. I also have the app that is identical on my phone, but I am much faster with the physical buttons on the actual calculator. Before I had my HP prime I had a TI 84+ silver and a TI 84+ emulator on my phone with similar experiences.
What is your job?
A traveling calculator salesman.
They last longer and are easier to handle in rough work.