Test Drive: Palm m130 Personal digital assistant

Palm m130

Personal digital assistant

Palm, Inc. 5470 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA 95052 (800) 881-7256 www.palm.com. $279.

It was somewhat surprising to see five out of 12 teachers at a recent curriculum meeting pull out personal digital assistants (PDAs) and check their calendars for the next meeting. PDAs have obviously dropped in price to the point where they're affordable, even for teachers and librarians.

The m130 is Palm's least expensive color PDA, and it has all the classic PDA information and schedule management features one expects: an address book, a calendar and clock, and a memo pad. Palm also bundles several "bonus" software applications, including DataViz Documents to Go, MGI PhotoSuite Mobile Edition, Palm Reader, and more. The wealth of add-on software applications available for the Palm OS is a real plus. The Palm Desktop software, compatible with most versions of Windows and Mac OS, allows teachers to download files such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, or e-mail messages from desktop computers. The files can thus be stored for later reading or reference.

The Palm m130 is stylish, with a slightly rounded, rectangular shape that fits comfortably in your hand. Only 4.8 inches long and weighing only 5.4 ounces, the m130 easily fits into a pocket or purse. It has a bright, easily read, color screen and a lithium-ion battery that lasts about a week when recharged in its USB cradle. It stays charged long enough for day-in, day-out work, but you wouldn't want to take it on an extended backpacking trip. The m130 comes with the Palm OA operating system and eight megabytes of memory. Moreover, the Palm expansion card slot lets users add extra memory for storage, applications, or other reference tools.

The m130 is a welcome addition to the Palm 100 series of handhelds. Its vivid color screen is very readable and was easier on my eyes than my current monochrome PDA screen. If you are looking for a basic color PDA with a rechargeable battery, the m130 is Palm's best product yet.