UNWRAPPING THE SPECTRUM +

Chris Bourne puts the new Spectrum through its paces and questions Sir Clive Sinclair on the reasoning behind his Christmas surprise.

Looking for all the world like a truncated QL, the new Spectrum burst upon an unsuspecting Sinclair User office on Monday 15th October. Well, not quite unsuspecting. There had been rumours for several months that Sinclair was going to put a real keyboard on a Spectrum, but the company has steadfastly denied them. The news was leaked on the Friday before the launch, and finally the tight-lipped men from Sinclair admitted that 'something sexy' was in the post.

Sexy it ain't, although like all Sinclair products there is something good and something less good about it. The Spectrum+, a name which hardly rolls off tongue nor typewriter, is exactly the same old Spectrum 48K with a solid keyboard attached, the whole presented very much in the style of the QL with sharp rather than rounded edges and similar ribbed black plastic.

It is larger than the Spectrum, measuring 320mm x 140mm x 40mm, nearly four inches longer. The keyboard itself is based directly on the QL keyboard, and utilises a rubber mat below the plastic keys rather than the direct contact between key and switching usually associated with professional keyboards. It should, according to Sir Clive Sinclair, be compatible with all available software, and any peripherals which will fit.

The touch is not as good as the very best keyboards already available for the Spectrum, although it is preferable to some of those at the lower range of the market. Because of the rubber mat, there is a certain amount of bounce in the keys, which is a cunning way of obtaining a semi-professional effect without paying professional prices for the parts. However, the weight required is not as even as it should be and the slight difference in give between different keys is mildly irritating for fast typing.

Sinclair has taken the opportunity to include a number of single function keys, which are a considerable advantage. They are DELETE, EDIT, GRAPHICS, INVERSE and TRUE VIDEO, CAPS LOCK, EXTENDED MODE and BREAK. The ENTER and CAPS SHIFT keys are suitably large, and there is a proper SPACE bar, although it is not as long as it would be on a real typewriter keyboard.

Further improvements to keyboard layout include giving a separate key each to "., and ; and bringing the cursor keys down to a position on both sides of the SPACE bar. The other functions of those keys remain on the top row, as before.

The net effect of the changes is to make it much easier to write programs using graphics and colour control codes, because the several key shifts required on the ordinary Spectrum become easier to follow using single-key entry. The punctuation marks are not such a good idea. It was certainly an improvement to give them their own single-touch keys, but the " and ; are tucked away in the bottom left corner, where nobody who had ever learned to type would think of looking for them.

The keywords and functions are all in white on the keys. Each key has a raised moulding contoured for fingers, and the legends within the moulding give the commands and letters obtained in K, G and L mode. The words outside the moulding are those features obtained in E mode. Unfortunately, Sinclair has abandoned the use of different colours to indicate the different modes.

"The keys are double-injection moulded," says Sir Clive, "which means they can never wear out. The words are not printed but moulded within the keys." Sir Clive says that if he had used that process with three colours, the whole keyboard would have been much more expensive.

That makes the keyboard much more confusing to read and undoubtedly will take away some of the speed advantage gained by using hard plastic keys. Novice programmers in particular will find it more frustrating to learn their way about the keyboard than they do with the help of those colours as a prompt.

But the most extraordinary thing about the keyboard is that it is actually smaller than the original in one important sense. Although the keys are larger than the original rubber pads, those pads were spaced out well, making it easier to hit the correct one and also providing more room for the printed key functions. On the new version the distance between the centre of two keys is fractionally less. The original keyboard was criticised for being small and cluttered, and in that respect the new one is no improvement.

The only other hardware change to the machine is the inclusion of a reset button on the left hand side of the plastic casing. That is a feature which should have been included on the original, and it is a relief to see Sinclair recognising the problems of wear and tear on the power socket at last. There is still no ON-OFF switch, however.

According to Sir Clive, the main target is customers thinking of buying the Commodore 64. "We did some market research last year," he says, "and discovered that although people thought the Spectrum was a superior machine they bought the 64 for the keyboard." Once the QL keyboard was developed, it was decided to produce a version for the Spectrum.

The Spectrum + package also includes a new power pack to style, six commercial programs, the usual cassette and television leads, and a completely new manual and introductory cassette.

The manual has been written by one Neil Ardley and is published by Dorling Kindersley, publishers of the colourful Screen Shot series. It is much shorter than the old manual, having only 80 pages instead of 190.

It is written in four sections with colour-coded margins. The first is Get Going, and provides a coherent guide to plugging the machine in without blowing, it, yourself, or the Christmas turkey up. There are diagrams of pink fingers pushing the correct buttons, photographs of what the screen should look like, and a flow chart for discovering the source of the problem. Following that there are some examples of short programs which produce pretty patterns to impress admiring friends and relations.

The second section deals with programming, and is much less comprehensive than the original manual. The section concentrates almost exclusively on graphics, with a short section at the end on sound. Concepts such as LET, FOR... NEXT loops and logical operations such as IF... THEN structures are mentioned almost in passing as the budding programmer is whisked through to the heady heights of assembling a program in which a spider descends to some pyramids while being shot at by a laser gun. Topics such as animation, attributes and user-defined graphics are explained, but it is not so much a guide to programming as an example of how to put a program together.

The third section is a brief explanation of the mechanics of the machine and the familiar diagrams of CPU, RAM chips and the like all connected by neat lines along which the information flows smoothly and in perfect discipline. It includes a memory map but no details of the system variables.

The final section gives a list of all the Basic commands and an explanation of how each one works. Brief examples are given, but even in combination with Section Two it falls way short of the uninspired but comprehensive guide provided by the original manual.

While the User Guide is a beautifully produced book with plenty of photographs and illustrations, its limitations are confusing. It seems aimed rather more towards a younger, games-orientated market, and does not, lamentably, provide a sufficiently organised course in programming to encourage newcomers to write anything very satisying for themselves.

Dorling Kindersley intends to market the Guide separately for £4.95, which seems a bit steep considering that Spectrum owners will already have a copy of the old manual. If you are still puzzled by the Spectrum graphics instructions, you might be enlightened by the Guide, but there are plenty of other books available in the same price range on the subject which contains much more information besides those simple points covered in both manual and guide.

It is thus unclear as to who would really want the Spectrum+. Those who are only interested in playing games will find the rubber keyboard as easy to use as the plastic one, and a joystick easier than both. Indeed, many of the standard interfaces, including the Kempston joystick and Centronics interfaces, will not fit the new machine, because their ports are obscured by the new casing.

On the other hand, those with serious applications, be they professional or home uses, will probably obtain better value for money buying a 48K rubber key Spectrum and one of the commercially available keyboards. For the £50.00 price difference you can choose from a wide range of keyboards, many of which are much more professional than the Sinclair one. If they can obtain a Spectrum with the Six-pack offer they will get almost the same software as is offered with the Spectrum+ as well. Once the Six-pack offer is discontinued it becomes a much more attractive proposition.

It is therefore worth considering the Spectrum+ not as a £180 computer but as a £50.00 keyboard. Single-key entry commands are not available on any commercial keyboard for the price, but for £10.00 more you could have a Stonechip, which also includes a BEEP amplifier and Load/Save switch. Further up the scale, at about £70.00, the Transform keyboard will give you a more professional feel as well as a numeric keypad and an on/off switch.

On a more comparable price level the Lo>>Profile and Saga keyboards offer well spaced keys with good touch but no single-entry keys. They make up for that deficiency by including several duplicate keys so that one or other of the SHIFT keys is always close at hand.

Sir Clive is convinced that the Spectrum+ will increase his lead over the Commodore 64 in Britain, and make inroads on Commodore domination of the world market. "We feel that there are more serious users about, and that is reflected in the current software available," he says. "It could cut into sales of the QL, but then we are offering people a choice."

First time buyers should consider whether one of the other commercial keyboards would not be more suitable for their use. If you are looking for a word-processor you would probably put ease of typing at a premium and might prefer a keyboard such as the Transform, Saga or Lo>>Profile. But for programmers the Sinclair keyboard offers much greater flexibility of single-entry commands which will cut out some of the drudgery of programming, particularly where graphics are concerned.

Certainly no-one in their right mind is going to buy the Spectrum+ if they already own a Spectrum. Sir Clive may have done the decent thing by typists' fingers at long last but there are limits.

The new Sinclair Spectrum plus slipped very quietly onto the British computer scene. One day it was not there, Sinclair were denying rumours of any new launch, and no new Sinclair computer was expected until the next year. The next day, there it was, a Spectrum computer dressed up to the nines.

The Spectrum+ is, essentially, a 48K Spectrum computer with a QL-style keyboard. It arrives complete with six programs.

Since its release in 1982, one of the main points about the Spectrum which has been criticised has been its keyboard. Its small, tacky keys, each with a huge variety to tasks to perform were almost universally hated, except by those who had just upgraded from the ZX-81. It seems unfortunate, then, that the Spectrum+, which is obviously designed to remove these grounds for complaints, should point up the advantages of the Spectrum keyboard.

While Sinclair claims that the new model has typewriter-action keyboard, it certainly does not have a typewriter keyboard. On a typewriter the keys are divided by substantial gaps, and the rows of keys are on different levels. The Spectrum+ keyboard places all the keys as close together as possible and, although the keyboard itself can be tilted, the rows are all on one level. They are not easy to distinguish, and the keyboard seems little suited to the purposes of a trained typist.

The number of functions used by each key has been maintained. The Z key, for example, performs six separate functions , and will PRINT LN, BEEP, COPY, :, Z or z on screen. This multiplicity of uses was criticised on the Spectrum but there, at least, the different words were distinguished by colour and position so that it was immediately obvious in which mode you could obtain which new word. On the Spectrum+ each of these words is printed on one key in white. It looks stylish, but is difficult to use.

There are advantages to the new keyboard. The cursor keys have been moved to the bottom of the keyboard, and have been regrouped. The left and right cursors are operated to the left hand, and the up and down keys by the right hand. Newcomers to Sinclair computers will no doubt be relieved while those who have spent hours with the Sinclair cursors on other machines and have now upgraded will be furious.

Extended mode, true video and inverse all have a key of their own now, to avoid complicated combinations of key depressions. The break key has been moved out of the way to the top right, and the edit key has been moved down to become a single key function. Typists will be pleased to see that the space key has become a space bar, and that the symbol shift key now appears twice, once at either end of the keyboard.

The Spectrum+ does not stand in the same relation to the Spectrum as the Spectrum did to the ZX-81. It is not a machine to which Spectrum owners will, or should upgrade. Both software and manual are available separately, and better add-on keyboards can be bought for the Spectrum. If you do decide to upgrade, bear in mind that all Spectrum software and hardware should be compatible with the Spectrum+. The exceptions are interfaces to be plugged into the back of the computer such as the Kempston joystick and Kempston printer interface. The Spectrum+ is too tall a computer for an interface with its plug at the front to be usable.

While the computer itself is likely to be of only limited interest to those people who already possess a 48K Spectrum, its appearance is much more significant. The Spectrum+ will attract people to Sinclair computers who would otherwise have ignored them, and gone for a machine with a clearer keyboard. It demonstrates a continuing commitment from Sinclair Research to machines at this level, and to the software companies already producing software for the Spectrum. As such, it should ensure that Sinclair retains or increases its market share, that hardware and software manufacturers continue producing for the market, and begin to produce even better products for a larger market. Whatever the fortunes of the Spectrum+, it must be good for Spectrum owners.

THE SPECTRUM PLUS

Without the usual blaze of publicity, Sinclair Research slipped onto the market their latest production model of the Spectrum. It arrived unannounced at the office and was, even though rumours were rife, quite a surprise!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

On opening the box an impressive, and exciting looking, machine lay before us. Its style was very similar to the QL, squarer, and much more solid looking than the usual Spectrum, every inch a "real" computer. What wondrous electronics were hidden beneath the case? Perhaps an American TS2068 operating system?

The first thing to strike me was that the keyboard no longer consisted of the rubber pads which put off so many people, and that the colourful key legends had all been replaced by white letters on black keys.

Secondly, the user manual was different and although not so artistic on the cover, was full of colourful pictures and interesting looking examples, albeit somewhat thinner than the original.

Finally, the Horizons tape (as supplied with the ordinary Spectrum) has been replaced with a cassette containing six, new, programs.

A CLOSE LOOK

Examining the computer more carefully revealed that in fact it was the 48K Spectrum PCB we know - housed in a new keyboard. This means of course that the wealth of Spectrum software will still be usable on the Spectrum+ much to the relief of many I would imagine!

All the Spectrum hardware peripherals will also be compatible, although due to the raised height of the case some units which have a "lip" to fit over the normal keyboard will not fit securely. This includes such established items as DK'Tronics, Kempston and Cheetah interfaces. It is, of course, fully compatible with the ZX Microdrives and the Sinclair Interfaces I and iI.

So lets take a critical look, remembering that for roughly the same cost, £179.95, you could buy a Spectrum and a separate keyboard.

THE KEYBOARD

This appears (without dismantling the computer) to be the standard membrane type with rubber keys topped off by plastic keys. This actually works quite well, the action is firm and the keys spring back quickly. They feel good to touch and travel solidly down with the exception of the two CAPS SHIFT and the ENTER key which tend to wobble somewhat. The half size space bar however, is well balanced and it does not suffer from this.

To anyone used to using a typewriter the keys may seem a little quiet - no satisfying click - and they are a little close together for fast typing, but perhaps this is a matter of getting used to and only time will tell. The keys are, like the QL's, flat but with slightly raised, dished pads to them.

A nice touch is the addition of two rear legs which may be lowered to give the keyboard a slant forward.

Of course if you have anything attached to the port at the back it then is left hanging in the air by its connector!

One impressive feature is the addition and choice of extra keys. The most obvious is the mini-space bar, but there are a total of 58 keys in all.

A double sized CAPS SHIFT key is provided at the bottom of each side of the keyboard, and the enter key is a large inverse L shaped key a la QL.

At each bottom corner a symbol shift key is provided and single key entry or access of True-Video, Inverse Video, Delete, Graphics, Extended (E) mode. Edit, Caps Lock, Break, ; " , . and the cursor keys is also provided. This layout makes programming much easier, and once you get used to it, it is a great advantage.

The extra cursor keys are nicely positioned for games players but unfortunately, because they are already Caps Shifted, won't work on many of the existing games using the cursor keys. Finally, on the left, tucked safely under the overhang of the top of the keyboard is a small button. This is the RESET button. When stuck in a game which has disabled the Break key, or when your computer locks up with that machine code routine, no longer do you have to keep pulling out the plug, just press the button! A great saving on the wear-and-tear of the Power socket.

THE MANUAL

This is a much better manual than the original. It's bright, well written, interesting and it starts with the setting up of your computer and then leaps straight in with simple programs.

Colour photographs have been used to show examples of the screen display at the important stages and the whole approach is geared to simple explanations. Some owners of Spectrums were keen to borrow the manual and try out some of the little programs. One person said, after trying the UDG section; "Oh! So that's how Binary and UDG's are related!" - and he has had his spectrum for nearly eight months.

Although the manual is a slimmer volume, as far as I can see all the information held in the original is included in this one. The only criticism I can think of is that experienced users may find it confusing to find out a specific item of information - ie. The hex code of a particular character.

IN USE

The keyboard is a great improvement, and the extra keys make programming much easier, but my tame touch typist found them unsuitable for typing at speed.

I found that although I've been using a Spectrum for as long as they've been available, the fact that keywords are printed in white ON THE KEY caused confusion. Finding some of them took a bit of searching and yet I thought I knew all their positions. Actually, they are laid out quite logically; command keywords and symbol shift keywords are on the dished part of the key and the old E mode green and red keywords are on the flat bit behind the key. Again perhaps time and practice will remove this problem.

If you play games and use the keyboard the the more positive action and dished tops are much better, although because some of the key positions have been adjusted, some of the games are more awkward to play.

If you use a joystick and interface then there is no difference!

ASSESSMENT

A beautiful looking machine which is a big improvement on the basic Spectrum. It is not perfect, but then what computer is! The manual is one of the best I've seen, especially for beginners, and that includes those for some very expensive machines.

Sinclair Research tell me that they have no plans to sell the keyboard separately - so that the old style Spectrums can't be upgraded - but that the manual will be on sale in most computer shops for £4.95.

Personally I think there are keyboards around that are as good. If not better, for about the same price as this one costs especially if you want a specific feature such as the numeric keypads to be found on some. However for those who do not want the fuss of adding their own this is a good alternative. A fully keyboard owner was quite envious!

It seems that Sir Clive has listened to the critics and made an effort to modify his machine with their comments in mind. All things considered, I would say that the price is a little high for what you get. At around ten pounds less the Spectrum+ would be excellent value for money.

As predicted in our last issue, Sinclair Research did indeed launch an upgrade to the ZX Spectrum - the ZX Spectrum+. Max Phillips grabbed it as it came through the door to give us his verdict

Well, the great day came... and went.
There was no major launch for the Spectrum+, just an anonymous knock on the editor's office and a cheery, "Look what you've got in the post this morning!" This isn't the type of fanfare we've come to expect from Sinclair Research... but then neither is the new machine.

The Spectrum+ (or the 'Plus' as I'm sure it'll be known on the streets) is the much-awaited upgrade to the ZX Spectrum. But don't throw your old Speccy out of the window just yet, the new one's just a quick cosmetic job. All you're getting is a new case and keyboard, six bundled programs, a shiny new user guide and a slick intro tape. Oh, I almost forgot... and a price rise to £179.95!

WITH LOOKS TO KILL

Looking like a sawn-off QL with a very crowded QL-style keyboard, the Spectrum+ is certainly better built than its predecessor and includes two fold-down feet in its base; these tip the machine to a suitable typing angle for users who can't afford an Interface I. The new casing allows a free flow of air through the real 'QL-type' grills and should help with ihe overheating that dogged some Spectrums in the past.

The only genuine mod that I could find on the whole machine was a reset button tucked under the left edge of the case. Pressing it is the same as switching off and on, so its only use is to save wear and tear on the plugs - there's still no warm-restart facility.

Moving inside the case, there's nothing but an ordinary Spectrum; it looks like an Issue 3, but carries a very original '1983 issue 4B' label. The ROM is identical to the Spectrum (you can check this with the VERIFY command) so, unless there are further board mods that I couldn't unearth, absolutely all Spectrum software and hardware should work with the Plus. And, I'm afraid to report, this may turn out to be the machine's best feature.

(Chatting around the subject a little, if I may, it'll be interesting to see if a program can be made to tell which of the two machines it's running on. There's no simple message in ROM to make the job easy - but it would allow programs to adapt between the two different keyboards so that the user was never asked to press keys that didn't exist and so on.)

ON-BOARD ADD-ONS

The Spectrum+'s keyboard has extra keys to simplify the keyword and editing system: these are hard-wired to produce the same signals as the original keyboard - doing it this way meant that there was no need to alter the firmware. A positive side-effect of this is that, although many keytops are unmarked, all the original key sequences on its predecessor still work. A hardened Spectrum user will still probably find it easier to use Symbol Shift and the 'P' key for quotes than go looking for the separate quotes key... but for new users - well, that's another story.

There are now two Caps Shift and two Symbol Shift keys. What's more, you can go straight into Extended or Graphics mode at the press of a single key. Edit, Delete and Break also get their own keys, as do True Video and Inverse Video (although the latter two do seem rather unimportant). Purists, like the rest of us, would argue that Delete should really be above the Enter key and Break should be out of the way on the left... but that's the way the keyboard crumbles. What did you expect Sinclair Research to do anyway - follow established trends?!?

The most obvious benefits are separate cursor keys, quotes, semi-colon, full stop and comma keys, and a relatively full-sized Space bar; with a bit of practice, you can even type on it! Even so, I'm not convinced the new keyboard is that much of an improvement - if you remember the comments generated about the QL's keyboard, it's hard to imagine why Sinclair Research has plumped for the same design... apart from the fact that it looks very stylish alongside its big brother, the QL.

Despite the new keys, the layout remains awkward and the absence of colour coded legends is surprisingly a real pest - to be honest, I'd kind of got used to that colour scheme. I'd like to say that the keyboard of the Plus is more reliable than its predecessor, but even so the review sample had started to come to bits; for example, unless pressed very gently, the 'J' key would generate a 'j' (or 'LOAD') on the way down and a 'g' on the way up. Another thing that bothers me... just how long will the keytop legends stand up to constant wear and tear?

ADDITIONAL PLUSSES

The Spectrum+ User Guide is really twee. Published by Dorling Kindersley, it's a full colour, heavily designed book that looks more like a 'week-by-week, builds into a pile of magazines you never read' series than a manual. The message is loud and clear. From now on, computers must be as presentable and approachable as videos and washing machines.

Although the new book is a triumph of its genre and will no doubt be welcomed by newcomers to computing, it has to be less detailed than the original Spectrum manual... It's smaller for a start! For a computer manufacturer whose success is based on the expertise of its customers, this is a mistake. By all means have such a simple introductory book ... but don't leave out the old manual as well.

The new machine also heralded the end for the Horizons-tape - the enclosed intro tape for the Plus contains some very flash software, although it's mostly fancy logos and screen clears. There's a long keyboard tutor on side one, which seemed a bit simplistic under all the wrapping (and had at least one obvious bug) and the other side contains two simple games and a nice character generator (which can be used to alter the graphics in one of the games).

But, of course, software's not really a problem because, apart from the thousands of commercial programs already on the market, the Plus has six tapes bundled in with it; the one-time bestsellers and members of the 'Spectrum Six Pack' are Scrabble, Make-A-Chip, Chequered Flag, Chess, Tasword 2 and VU-3D. And that little lot should be more than enough to keep a new owner quiet!

MARKET FORCES

The Spectrum+ is quite openly a bit of traditional marketing. Every once in a while a product's fluffed up and offered at a little bit more than 'last year's model' - hardly Sinclair Research-style, but who can blame them in this day and age? It's obvious that Sinclair Research must be suffering lost micro sales along with everyone else this year, that and the components costing more at the moment. There's also the fact that the going will be a lot tougher, starting this Christmas.

But the price of the Plus is still a bit shocking! Sinclair Research could have taken a bit more time and effort to produce a machine it's worth upgrading to. Of course, Sinclair Research can't do a very enhanced Spectrum (say, with CP/M ability) as the product would more than likely knock spots off the QL. So what we get instead is a rather limp marketing ploy and a return to old Spectrum prices. And while I'm on this tack, you'll notice that the idea of a 16K colour computer for under £100 has been quietly dismissed.

I suppose I'm disappointed. Something around the size of an Apple II with a Fuller-style (Who? What! Ed,) keyboard would be a good start; a spare RS232 port could be used for a proper detached keyboard if the user wanted. The system should be capable of total compatibility with existing software but would include lots of extras, such as 16K pages of RAM below Basic and Interface 1 ROMs; these pages could be used for development software and so on, and switched off when full compatibility is required.

RGB and composite video ports are obligatory, and several expansion slots would be really appreciated (maybe Sinclair Research should have taken a peep at the USP system from U-Micros). You could then offer floppy controllers, 80 column boards, extra RS232 and Centronics ports and so on and so on.

Such a machine would have a lot going for it. Few people would mind paying around £400 for a starter system - it becomes the number one Spectrum development tool and also a viable business system. With the Spectrum's current software and user base, it would seem to make a lot of sense.

OK, the Plus does look good and, when you consider the current industry support for the existing Spectrum, seems set to be with us for many years to come. That's not such a bad thing - the Spectrum has done a great deal to promote the art of programming and the Spectrum+ will no doubt follow the tradition. I suppose we should be grateful it didn't come with its own kludge…