IBM demonstrates its first calculator to rely on transistors and the Nokia N-Gage is launched. All on today’s On This Day from TEST Huddle.
1954 – IBM demonstrates its first transistor built Calculator
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) demonstrates its first calculator to rely completely on transistors. The device consumes only five percent of the power of a comparable electronic calculator. Three years later, the commercial model IBM 608, will be introduced. Equipped with more than 3,000 germanium transistors, the 608 is capable of storing forty nine-digit numbers and performing 4,500 additions per second. The device will however be a commercial failure as it is priced too expensively. However, the impact of its release will mean that the industry will be met with a huge reduction in the price of transistors.
2003 – Nokia N-Gage
On this day in 2003, Nokia release the N-Gage handheld video game system which will retail at a price of $300 . It features a 104MHz ARM processor, 64MB RAM, a 4096-colour display, Bluetooth, USB port, a web browser, MP3 audio player,FM radio, and instant messaging. Games are available on multimedia Cards. The sales of the N-Gage did not take off and the phone/console hybrid ended production in 2009.
Images: Wikipedia
