Sharp EL-9650 Equation Editor - from 2000

This SHARP EL-9650 programmable scientific graphics touch screen calculator, together with the EL-9600, were the first ever handheld calculators with a touch screen.
The EL-9600 was released in 1997 and this EL-9650 was released in 2000.
This is a good reason to grab one of these to your collection.

Much later, in 2003, CASIO has released similar touch screen feature with their Classpad series.

Main hardware/firmware features obtained from the official SHARP site and user guides:

Black LCD Touch Screen;
Text mode: 22 Digits x 8 Rows. 5x7 dot matrix chars;
Graphics mode: 132 x 64 pixels;
Touch Screen matrix: 22 x 8.

Program mode: Up to 99 programs.
RAM Memory size: 32KByte.


User register memories: 27
Functions: 801 (The similar EL-9600 model has 797 features)

Communications:
Serial Unit to Unit (CE-450L kit) or Unit  to PC (CE-LK1P kit).

Power Supply:
Battery 4 x AAA
Power consumption: 0.13W at 6VDC
Memory backup: CR-2032




Precision:
In normal mode: 10 digits mantissa 2 digits exponent;
In complex mode: 10 digits mantissa;
Using split Screen: 7 digits mantissa.



 Forensics test result: 8.9999999771708
 

I like when a calculator is able to give a straight positive answer to sqrt(-2).

Also it was swift to find the correct answer to the integral of int(0,pi, sin(x)dx).

Graphical representaions of multiple functions.

This calculator manufacturing date: around 2001.
The included original Japanese batteries have a date code of 01 09 (2001, September).
Also the IC4 and IC5 SHARP chips shows date codes for the year 2001, week 45 and 44.

Dismantling.

When the battery cover is removed, the main battery power supply is switched off automatically thanks to a pressure switch visible in the picture at the left side of the memory backup battery cell.
I don't recall this feature in any other calculator.
 

 

 
To remove the back cover we need to undo six screws.
The main PCB is covered with a screening foil that requires an additional screw to be undone.

 

Integrated Circuits:
IC1: Unmarked (LCD/Touchscreen driver?)
IC2: Unmarked (Processor?)
IC3: EPSON SRM2B256SLTMX1 256KBit (32KByte) Static RAM
IC4: SHARP LH5S4ATA 4Mbit (512KByte) Mask ROM (date code 0145: 2001 week 45)
IC5: SHARP LZ9GA34 LCD/Touchscreen controller (date code 0140: 2001 week 40)