Palm m130

Bringing colour to your screen

For some time now, the PDA market has been offering a wide range of models whose main feature is a colour monitor. It looks like the early Seventies, when B&W TV sets were being replaced by new models in colour, certainly nicer to watch but also much more expensive for the time. The comparison may not be perfect but there are several similarities, beginning with the matter of price: although not unaffordable, several consumers held back. Targeting these people, Palm decided to equip its most economical model with a colour monitor, and introduced m130 ($449 CDN).
The PDA delivers all of the features that you want in a Palm for a price that doesn't break the bank. The m130, in fact, extends the 100 series line into new areas with a new price-to-performance ratio unmatched by competitors.
Designed with a less elegant and functional shape than the 500 series, the m130 is nonetheless quite easy to hold and manage. The body is almost entirely made in brightly coloured plastics (with changeable faceplate), but despite the nice look it feels rather cheap when held. The real novelty, however, is the transflective backlit colour screen, surely not huge in size (160x160), but capable of excellent performance both indoors and outdoors.
At the core of this PDA there is a classic Motorola 33 MHz Dragonball VZ processor, honestly discharging its tasks while saving as much energy as possible.
Consumption is one of the m130's main features. In comparison with previous models, using the colour monitor shortens the life of its rechargeable batteries in a big way. Performance is acceptable and occasionally superior to expectations. The adoption of rechargeable batteries is a pleasant surprise, as it does not require you to plunder a supermarket for standard alkaline batteries.
Powered by Palm OS 4.1, the m130 comes with 8MB of RAM for storing contacts, a calendar, other information, and extra applications. Additionally, the PDA offers a card slot for adding additional RAM in case your information requires more space. The slot can accommodate a Bluetooth SD card in order to create wireless connections.
Inside the m130 you'll find all the standard Palm applications, such as Date Book, Address Book, and Note Pad, and some welcome additions such as Documents To Go 4.0, which lets you work with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other documents directly on your Palm. To show off the colour screen, you get MGI's PhotoSuite Mobile Edition, which can display JPEGs and small, silent video clips. There's also software to help you connect your Palm to the Internet via your cell phone and Palm's MultiMail SE e-mail application.
The m130 comes with Palm Desktop software for both the PC and the Mac and requires a USB port to connect the cradle to the computer. Palm made some modification to the cradle and sometimes docking the PDA can be tricky. Moreover, the lack of a light turning on when a good connection has been achieved (like early models had) is another small inconvenience that we would rather avoid. In general, however, the m130 continues the Palm tradition in terms of ease of use and number of applications and devices available.
The addition of a colour monitor surely contributes to the diffusion of the handheld. This does not mean that Palm should not update its hardware using more powerful processors (e.g. ARM). Until it does, the changes will only seem cosmetic.

For further information please visit: www.palm.com

Publication Date: 2002-05-05
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=1278