I do not think it is something that has to be confirmed. I think it goes without saying that it will have Ti BASIC on it. Ti BASIC is meant to be simple so that user can quickly automate functions of the calculator. This is not what Python being on board is meant for. This kind of programming came about well before programmer, developer, etc were even a thing, and it was usually a keystroke system that was stored in memory. Literally, a way to automate the tasks you otherwise did by hand on the calculator.

I think it would leave a massive gap if Ti BASIC was go by the wayside and the ability to quickly write what are just essentially automation programs for users by users on the calculator would take a hit.

It starts with understanding that Ti BASIC is not Python and Python is not some better form of Ti BASIC. Both are different and serve different computing purposes.

It is a little scary that none of the homescreen icons seem to be TI-BASIC, but I agree with jacober. If it's still an 84, it's still gonna use BASIC. If anything, they might switch to, like, something more similar to 68k basic, but I think even that's a stretch.

Edit: One thing that scares me even more about the homescreen icons, however, is the fact that they seem more solid and permanent; it might become impossible to delete apps, resulting in even more bloatware on this already bloatware-full OS. Just speculation, though.

This is purely speculation.

But I can see this too. Have the assembly application bundled into each OS update. So you won't download any apps, you'll just get them as part of the OS bundle when there is an update. I was poking around Ti Education website two nights ago and noticed a page explaining how one can purchase apps. This isn't a thing at the moment, I think it is something coming down the pipes. So perhaps a sort of app store from Ti, connected to a user profile account, where you can download some but they cost extra money.

I can see this as a vector to shut down assembly development outside of the official Ti apps as well. There isn't a need to add apps when they are just bundled together in the OS. That leaves just BASIC (or whatever iteration they go for) and Python programs for users.

All of this course doesn't mean it can't be cracked by someone. And none of this is actually based on anything other than supposition based on Ti's recent crackdown on user developed programs. I can't see Ti just throw their hands up with the Evo. I think they are going to double down.

Purchasing apps was a thing back in the days, they had SDKs etc. I very much doubt it's coming back.

And yeah it's likely going to adopt what they did on the recent calc models that are locked down from the beginning like the 84+T or 82AEP where the OS update is all in one file (OS+Apps) and you can't install them separately.

I've also heard that Basic support may have been on the chopping block at some point during development (with some teachers not caring about Basic anymore...) but considering the decades of history (and the fact that the OS homescreen etc is almost a basic repl anyway) it's probably not going to happen and we'll still have Basic, we just can't see the icon because it's after the ones in the pictures?

Yes, my thoughts exactly. That little down-arrow at the bottom is reassuring.

The TI-84 Evo may look like a good advancement of the TI-84 Plus CE.