Memo calculators store your facts and figures (Feb, 1980)

Memo calculators store your facts and figures

Always forgetting appointments? Two new $100 calculators that store alphanumeric messages also have date, time, and alarm functions. When an alarm beeps, your stored reminders are spelled out on LCD’s. Toshiba’s LC-1038MN has 30 memories to store messages at dates and times up to one year ahead. The owner’s manual, though, has tiny print and a format that makes it tough to learn how to use this model.

Sharp’s EL-6200 is a handy desktop electronic diary. It’s dot-matrix LCD makes letters more legible than some on Toshiba’s 1038 (where a “T” is also a “7,” for example). The Sharp model has 38 alphanumeric memories with alarms. To help remind you of appointments, the display has special symbols for travel by plane or car, phone calls, entertainment, and meetings.—John Free