Rating: 
Summary: Palm M130 - Good Migration Path From Grayscale Visor Deluxe
Review: I purchased the M130 as a migration from a gray-scale Visor Deluxe I've had for over two years. I chose the M130 after comparing both Palm-based & Pocket PC models from various manufacturers. I really wanted to move to a combined PDA /Web / Blackberry-like pager and cell phone yet all current models, including the new Tungsten W, have short-comings in terms of features, wireless coverage areas, let alone prices.So far I'm please with the M130 - it moved all of my previous apps over without issue and with an SD128 card I have more than enough room. With the bundled Documents to Go app I can now bring my Excel, Word and even Powerpoint (useful for the outline view of a presentation rather than slide view) files - this is a superior app over Quickoffice in my opinion. The screen is bright and the color is good for 58K+ colors, and the battery life so far has been good across 2-3 days of checking schedules, contact info, Advantgo and viewing Excel files before requiring re-charge. So until the next gen of PDA w/Palm/Web/Phone/SMS is really available and proven the Palm M130 is a great interim PDA.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good PDA
Review: This is a pretty good PDA. I was looking for a color PDA to replace my trusty Palm V (still miss that little guy), but the other models and brands were a little too overpriced for my budget. Lo and behold, Palm comes out with the m130 and it was in my price range! I love the color screen and the extra memory and add-on features. At first, I had to contact Palm because I received a defective unit. They replaced it free of charge and it has had no major problems ever since. The m130 comes packaged with a treasure chest of useful software (Documents to Go, Palm Reader and others)! The expansion slot is pretty cool too. The only drawback that I have found is the darned Graffiti writing recognition. Graffiti writes pretty well when it wants to, but I have found that it doesn't always register as the letter you want and tends to do its own thing. I seem to have the most trouble with the letter "y". It comes out as other letters. It can be frustrating and I am sure that Palm users have gotten frustrated with Graffiti. I would recommend investing in the keyboard. Besides all of that, I have been happy with Palm and the m130. These PDA's are truly amazing and useful tools and Palm has really set the standard with their great handhelds. If only the Graffiti were a little better...
Rating: 
Summary: Good for a year. Not dependable. Battery + screen problems.
Review: My M130 will reset itself when I pull it in or out of the cradle or if I let it go uncharged over the weekend. I bought mine in May 2002 and it worked great for the first year but now I can't use the graffiti writing surface and the stylus calibration takes over 100 inputs before it finishes. A dictionary card will also reset my Palm. 2 stars for a year of good service.
Rating:
Summary: Inexpensive Color Handheld
Review: When I bought this product I was surprised at the low price. You really get a lot for your money. It's a little bulkier than most other palm pilots, but is suprisingly light. It also has a handy flip cover with a little window that displays the time for a few seconds when you press the up button. It has a great color display with 58,621 colors and two levels of backlight brightness. It also comes with a great array of software, including DataViz Documents To Go and MGI PhotoSuite. Unlike previous m100 series handhelds, it has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery which lasts about two days of regular use. It's also compatible with Secure Digital and MultiMedia (MMC) cards. I would recommend getting accesories also. It's compatible with all accesories from the m500 series. It only comes with 8 MB of memory so I recommend buying a 16 or 32 MB Secure Digital expansion card. If you're willing to spend a little bit more, I recommend getting the palm m515. It's smaller, lighter, has double the memory, and has a slightly larger screen.
Rating:
Summary: Great PDA to replace my Palm III
Review: I have been using a Palm III for about 5 years and finally maxed out its memory. So I decided to upgrade to a newer model that has an expansion slot and at least 8 MB. After trying out several models I narrowed down my search to the m130 and m500 from Palm. I bought the m130 because of two reasons; it felt much more comfortable to hold than the slimmer m500, and the color display makes it much easier for me to read than the monochrome screen. I have had it about 1 week and I'm hooked. I love using it, the color screen makes such a difference. It is so much easier to read text against the white background. I also find the Grafitti recognition to be more accurate than the Palm III and I like the feel of the screen when writing. I also like the ability to write "notes" directly on the screen. All in all a great device for a reasonable price (I bought it here at Amazon). I would highly recommend the m130 - go for it!
Rating: 
Summary: It does its job
Review: I got this from a merchant seller who never sent me the original installation CD, so I had to get everything from the Palm website. It worked great every time no problems at all, until one day randomly when I was playing Chess, the thing suddenly went on the fritz, and I had to reset it, loosing all my information in the process. Thank God for the Palm desktop that restored everything when I sync-ed it. Its not like PocketPC. If your a Mac person, go with the Palm OS, if your a windows person... do PocketPC. I wish i'd known the difference when I bought mine.
Rating:
Summary: Best value for the money
Review: If you are thinking of buying this handheld, make sure you understand what you are getting. It is not top of the line anymore. It does not have a high-resolution (320x240) screen, a super-fast ARM processor, built-in wireless connectivity, and it cannot play MP3's or videos. If you want these features, take a look at the Tungsten models or the Zire 71. That being said, however, this handheld is simply the best in its price range. Indoors, the color screen is phenomenal and outdoors it is readable except in the most direct sunlight. The battery life is quite reasonable and the battery charges quickly. The m130 comes bundled with DataViz Documents To Go, for easy editing of Word and Excel documents on the go. DocsToGo also lets you view PowerPoint shows. There are hundreds of free games available for download, as well as both shareware (Liberty) and freeware (Phoinix) Game Boy emulators, which further expand the library of available games. If you ever *do* decide you want some more advanced features, many are available with add-on accessories. The m130 may have only 8MB of memory built in, but the SecureDigital / MultiMediaCard expansion slot provides virtually limitless storage. It may not have built-in Bluetooth, but the Palm Bluetooth SDIO card, which snaps into the SecureDigital slot, provides this capability. The Palm Universal Connector on the bottom snaps into a lot more than just the charger / sync cradle, including wired and wireless modems, digital cameras, keyboards, printers, and GPS units! If you want an afforable handheld with a high "cool" factor and lots of room to grow, the m130 is the best pick.
Rating:
Summary: Be Sure A Palm is Right For You
Review: A Palm Pilot can either be one's best friend or one's biggest burdon. This review is designed for a first time Palm buyer to give you the strengths and weaknesses of this model(the M130) and Palm Pilots in general, so that YOU can decide whether you need another useless peice of plastic in your life or not. The Draw and the Drawbacks of Palms in General---
Palm Tops are a very nice way to write notes to yourself (if you like learning to write in grafiti), keep a neat calender and hold on to important names and numbers. It is clean-- self contained and much more proffessional looking that a paper and pen. But is it More efficient? If you are out of room in your day planner and find yourself so busy and overbooked that you are constantly forgetting dates, this is a nice alternative-- if you think it would be fun and useful, try somethiung else. Overall I found that a Palm Pilot takes so much time to set up and operate that it seemed more efficent to go back to pen and paper. I found, for example, that it took me much much longer to write detailed notes, as I was so frustraed that I abbraviated and shortened until my note was useless and illegable jargon. Soon I ran into a guilt complex, "should I just give up? OH NO, but I payed so much money..." So I kept using it. Finally I gave up, and as part of the healing process I wrote this review. "Special" Features---This Model
-Color Screen: If you want a few extra bucks to look like you payed a few hundred this is for you. Very Mid range color screen, but it gets the job done. -Internet: There are much better ways to connect to the internet, a computer for example (or even a cell phone). This feature seemed pretty useless to me. -Picture Viewing: Great, you can upload pictures and look at them... maybe even send them to other people. My only question is- how often wil this be more convienient that a computer? -Games: Oh Goody! -Read uploaded Text Documents: If you like reading things on a screen go for it-- I got lots of headaches. -"Scribble" Pad: This is the best thing ever-- I wrote lots of illegable notes and drew funny pictures, woo hoo! Last Words--
Palm Pilots are a great way to organize a busy schedule, nothing more, nothing less. If you feel that paper and pen aren't cutting it-- make the switch, but know that it will most likely be a bit of a headache at the start, and the headache may continue until you go back to your day planner. Best of Luck
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy this!
Review: I bought this for my wife's birthday. Within 3 months it failed (wouldn't charge). Sent it back to Palm who returned it 'repaired'. Within 1-2 weeks failed again. This happened on a further two occasions before Palm agreed to replace it. Replacement sent last August.... it has just failed again.
Furthermore, there were enormous difficulties in acccessing the company for repair services. Palm seem to want to sell these but don't care what happens afterwards.
Rating:
Summary: M130
Review: Got extremely quickly, M130 has just one little problem, but nothing major for a used model. Thank you
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