So for people who actually use their calculator for math, is this the first real evolution since the 89? I've been increasingly annoyed at all the calculators marketed to kids when advances in AI and computer programming could do so much for scientists and mathematicians. I'm looking forward to this one.

No, it's not. The CAS is exactly the same as on the 68k calculators, they just redid the GUI and the underlying OS, not the CAS part.

this calculator is amazing! look how fast it graphs! i would want to know much more on what kind of graphing it does. especially 3d graphing. on the ti89, 3d graphing is slow, and you can't plot 3d points, or many calculations. i want to know if this thing does spherical coordinates, cylindrical coordinates, 3d implicit graphing, or 3d parametric equations.there needs to be a handheld that does that kind of graphing.

Yes, this, IMHO, is definately NOT a calculator. It has the functions of a calculator, but it goes way beyond that. I think that, in order that "calculators" never become like our modern computers, we have to draw the line somewhere, and this device crosses it... It seems that the market for this product will be teachers or Middle School to early High School students. What advanced math functions will it have, anyway?... No programming? No suprise, given the specs. With programming, this thing could easily have programs that solve any problem that anyone could encounter on a AP exam. Also, IMHO, the only point of calculator games is that they can be played any time during school, plus, they pose a challenge to the programmers that write them. If there was programming, then this thing definately would eliminate the latter benefit, and that scares me. What will people who want to be challenged with making asm programs turn to next? Will it be high-tech watches?!