Palm m130 Color 8MB PDA (Palm Computing-P80704US)

WHAT'S HOT: The M130 offers a crisp 65,536-color screen and a Secure Digital slot for $275. Like its lower-end siblings, it sports a curvy case, an interchangeable color faceplate, and a rubberized flip-down cover with a window for displaying the time. The Secure Digital slot accepts memory, game, and reference cards, plus the new Palm Bluetooth wireless network card.

In addition to all the usual Palm applications for tracking contacts and your schedule, the M130 comes bundled with Dataviz's Documents to Go 4.0 for editing and creating Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents on your handheld. For showing off the color screen, the bundled MGI PhotoSuite Mobile Edition application lets you display JPEG photos and play short video clips.

WHAT'S NOT: The screen has a smallish 1.7-by-1.7-inch active screen area and is limited to a resolution of 160 by 160 pixels, so photos don't look as attractive as ones displayed on the 320-by-240-pixel screens that higher-end PDAs offer. Also, to be a serious handheld photo album, it really should come with more than 8MB built-in memory. Indoors, the M130's screen is easy enough to read, especially in low light with the backlight turned on, but outdoors, it's much darker and a little too reflective, though still readable. Rechargeable batteries save you the hassle and expense of replacing standard alkaline batteries, but the M130's lithium ion battery is sealed inside the unit, so you can't swap batteries if it runs out. We also wish we had the option of plugging the AC adapter directly into the handheld instead of only into the syncing cradle, which would let you leave the cradle at home. The M130 isn't flash-ROM upgradeable, so you won't be able to update to later versions of Palm OS.

WHAT ELSE: The midsize M130's hourglass shape feels good in the hand and fits easily in a shirt pocket. It measures 3.13 inches wide by 4.8 inches long by 0.88 inches thick, not including the flip-down cover. With the cover and its plastic stylus, it weighs 5.2 ounces--not the lightest PDA available, but not the chunkiest, either.

UPSHOT: Ideal for the entry-level, cost-conscious user who doesn't mind spending a little more to get a color screen.

SUMMARY

Palm M130 Palm OS 4.1, 8MB internal memory, 1.7-by-1.7-inch active screen area, 160 by 160 resolution, Secure Digital Card expansion slot, lithium ion battery; 5.4 ounces; one-year parts and labor warranty, toll-free support for 16 hours daily. Free tech support for 90 days, fee per call thereafter. $275 800/618-6719 www.palm.com