As the title says: do you want to have wifi in the OTZ80 calc or not?

Consider any regulations, power usage, etc. for this feature.

I feel like it's way more trouble than it's worth, from power consumption, to cost, to antenna(e), to drivers, to a networking stack. I'll expand more on my thoughts tomorrow.

I remember the old PDAs used to have SD card modules that provided WIFI, perhaps something like that could be sold separately?

Oh yeah, that might work. Or if we have USB, there's plenty of USB wifi dongles.

well, the first question is, do you plan to have software that would benefit from Wifi connection (like a Web Browser or something). If you were thinking for syncing between the calc and either a comp or other calc, I almost have to wonder if Bluetooth might be a bit better in that regard.

Yeah IMO Bluetooth would be a better option, but even then we'd still lose any shot at acceptance on standardized tests.

Definitely, an excellent point. Of course, Bluetooth could also be implemented via a USB dongle. Come to think of TheStorm's point, do we indeed want this device to be acceptable for standardized tests? I feel like the amount of lobbying and certification necessary for ETS to accept any device is substantial, and from hobbyists, I definitely don't see that happening. Therefore, I think we should just assume that this device would never be acceptable on a test.

This will be aimed at students and hobbyists alike, but students more.
Precisely, students and the TI community.
Others already have the Pandora for the usual fun.

That in mind, I'm against having Wifi. Sad, but maybe we could have support via tethering w/USB.

Aimed at students is fine, but you don't honestly think that ETS would ever approve an unregulated hobbyist device for use on standardized tests, do you? If TI gets paranoid enough to send out a C&D order when there's even a threat of the OS getting replaced (the key controversy), it's a fairly high-stakes game. I could totally see TI using its power and influence to even lobby ETS against approving a third-party device for use on the tests.

...and that's negative thinking. More or less a worst case scenario, I agree... but there's plenty of other companies making calculators that compete with the TI. Of course, TI has advertising money, so they get dibs in the store front. TI, however, hasn't attempted to block competitor's devices either. Our device is pretty much hack proof (at least the OTZ80, OTARM is a bit harder, since we want any OS to run, but still have a PTT mode).

I'm pretty sure we could make our own case for the ETS, and then approval will follow.

why not have wi-fi be external via USB or something? that way it'd be legit to use on tests, but it'd still be able to have it

And I'm equally sure that would never in a million years be possible. When and if you ever take the FE (the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, for graduated engineers who plan to one day become professional engineers), the accepted calculators are exactly TWO precise model numbers of TI scientific (non-graphing) calculator. You're telling me that ETS and TI aren't in each others pockets?

Edit: @AncientPower: Yeah, I agree that that's probably the best way to go. Either no WiFi at all, or WiFi via external USB dongle, but definitely not internal WiFi.

That's all folks! Voting is now closed, and votes will now be tallied.
The final feature list will be announced soon, so stay tuned.

Thanks to everyone who voted!

And on this feature I really hope the verdict was both no wifi and no wireless communication capabilities out-of-the-box in general for cost, complexity, and test-usefulness reasons.