1-Calc Review

1-Calc is one of those applications that just naturally fits into the PocketPC environment. Let’s face some people think that our PDA’s are nothing more than a glorified calculator anyway. But at least with 1-Calc you can show those disbelievers  features that not even many standalone calculators have - and its all accessible at the touch (or is that tap) of a button.

Everybody needs a calculator sooner or later and 1-Calc with its additional functions like currency conversion, unit conversion and a whole host of other options makes it an almost must have for your PDA.  It looks great, has nice big finger friendly buttons and it works exactly how you think it should. I’ve been using 1-Calc since 2004 and it is now an indispensable part of my XDA2.

There are other calculators and conversion applications out there but 1-Calc integrates every function I need (and then many more) into one compact, well thought out and attractive package. You will find yourself using 1-Calc a lot, it’s great for shopping and converting just about any unit of measure to some other unit, and (new in this version) even checking mortgage payments if that’s your thing. 

In case your requirements are not catered for in the default screens that 1-Calc uses, you can even customize it so that commonly used functions appear where you want them and the order you want them in.
Additional skins and a desktop version are also available at an extra cost. If you feel so inclined you can even skin 1-Calc yourself, full details are available on their website.

Currency exchange rates are updated via the internet when your device is connected to your computer, or if you have Wifi or a Phone enabled device it can (if you want it to) update that way as well. Over 80 countries are catered for, so almost everybody should be covered.

In use the buttons provide great feedback, both audible and visual and this adds to the quality feel of the product. Another handy feature is the ability to use the jog (up down button) on your device to scroll through the various calculator screens. For example I sometimes use the results of conversions inside calculations and it’s handy to be able to add a number to memory, switch back to the calculator by simply hitting the up button, recall the memory and carry on. It’s the little things like this that make 1-Calc a great program to use.  The ability to copy results and paste them into word or excel files might also be useful to some.

This version is noticeably snappier on my XDA2 than the previous Version 2.

Features at a glance

Basic Functions
The most common calculator functions at your fingertips: +, -, x, ÷, +/-, 1/x, %, √, ³√, x², x³, full memory functions, x^y, !, Exp, 10^x, e^x.

Backspace to edit mistakes, brackets to frame your expressions correctly.
Also supports Algebraic, RPN & DAL calculator modes.

Currency Converter
1-Calc grabs the latest currency rates from the Internet so wherever you are, you always have the latest rates with you!

Unit Converter
A full unit converter that not only helps for the everyday conversions (e.g. km/miles, Fahrenheit/Celsius), but also for the unexpected (what's my shoe size in Europe?!?).

Financial & Statistical Functions
1-Calc includes popular financial functions like Time Value Money, Percentage Change (%Δ), Interest Rate Conversions, Depreciation, Profit Margin and Break Even. Also solve statistics regression problems and convert between dates.

Graphing Calculator
Get all the functionality of a $150 graphing calculator on your Pocket PC. Enter up to four equations and see their paths plotted on the graph. Also does quadratic equations.

Scientific Functions
Full scientific calculator: sin, cos, tan, deg/rad/grad, PI, sin-1, cos-1, tan-1, sinh, cosh, tanh, log, ln, sinh-1, cosh-1, tanh-1, Dec->Deg, Deg->Dec, XY->R, Rθ->X, XY->θ, Rθ->Y, Random, nPr, nCr, Last Answer.

Useful constants for scientific calculations are also available as a group of buttons. You don't need to keep constants on a scrap of paper any more!

Tip Calculator
Quickly work out who should pay when you're out with friends!

Memory Banks
1-Calc has 5 different memory banks to store your last calculation, not just 1 like most usual calculators. Plus it has copy / paste buttons to allow results to be copied to / from other programs like Excel or Word.

Base converter
quickly convert between binary, decimal, hexadecimal & octal.

Date Calculator
Convert the number of days between two dates. A simple but useful function.

Customization
Want to display all your buttons at the same time? No problem! 1-Calc can display 40 smaller buttons on 1 page, and a quick tap of the up/down button can display 80 more.

1-Calc also allows button groups to be customized so you can display just the buttons important to your everyday calculations.

Plus, 1-Calc has many different options to allow you to set up 1-Calc for how you want it:

• Normal, fixed, scientific, engineering notation
• RSS, DAL, Chain & Algebraic modes.
• Display using regional settings
• Repeated equals
• Cleartype support
• Manually update currency figures

Conclusion

You can probably tell I think 1-Calc is a fantastic product –  it is incredibly useful and visually appealing and the interface is second to none. If there is any fault I can find, it is the absence of a paper tape function, where it would be possible to see all the data entered, like a stand alone paper tape calculator.  The ability to calculate fractions - something that I have to do occasionally in my line of work would also be appeciated.  That would take 1-Calc to 100% or 10 out of 10 in my view. I usually don’t give anything a score this high, but quite frankly in my opinion this is the best all purpose calculator – converter you can get for the price. – PDA or standalone

1-Calc is available from PocketGear or Handango and more information about alternative skins and the desktop version can be found at the omega one Website

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