DATAMATH

DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

Texas Instruments TI-808 (Second Design, Black)

Date of introduction:	1987	Display technology:	LCD dot matrix
New price:		Display size:	8
Size:	4.7" x 4.1" x 0.9" 120 x 105 x 23 mm³
Weight:	2.7 ounces, 76 grams	Serial No:
Batteries:	n.a.	Date of manufacture:	mth 12 year 1987
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	Taiwan (C)
Precision:	8	Integrated circuits:
Memories:	1
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner

Texas Instruments introduced with the TI-808 a small desktop calculator with a dot matrix display. It looks today like a marketing gag, neither readability nor design of the numbers was enhanced to standard calculators like the TI-1795+.

Dismantling this TI-808 (Second Design) manufactured in December 1987 by Compal Electronics in Taiwan reveals a surprise: The printed circuit board (PCB) of the calculator is labeled (TI-)508(-12). Not very helpful because the original TI-508 appeared on the market about one year after this TI-808.

Don't miss the white sibling of the TI-808 and the first Marketing Sample. Within a few months Texas Instruments changed to a conventional Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) instead of the fancy "dot matrix" display but kept the other internals. We refer to this final edition of the calculator as TI-808 (Third Design).

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.