The Palm m130

 

Technical Summary

 

Processor:                   33 MHz Dragonball VZ

Memory:                     8 Mb

Screen:                        16-bit colour, backlit, 160x160 resolution.

Operating System:     PalmOS 4·1

Battery:                       750 mAh Lithium Ion Polymer rechargeable

 

Form Factor

The m130 uses a similar toughened case first seen in the m100 and m105 and incorporates both a plastic screen and digitizer.  Although it is not especially thin or small, it is very comfortable in the hand.  It is fractionally larger than the Palm m125, but also marginally lighter thanks to the rechargeable battery.

 

The Palm m130 has the traditional PalmOS case and button arrangement.  The four application buttons sit at the bottom of the device, under the screen, and by default they launch the Datebook, Address, Tasks and Notepad applications.  This leaves the power button, which you’ll find at the top of the device right in the centre – pressing and holding the power button toggles the backlight setting between high and low / backlight brightness dialogue box.

 

Screen

 

The m130’s screen uses an older technology, although it shows almost sixteen bits colour depth (readers may note that the screen can display over 58,000 colours by dithering), and it’s usability depends on the backlight being stronger than ambient lighting.  This limits its usefulness in sunlight, much like the Palm IIIc, although most users are almost certain not to notice this!  However, the m130 makes the issue of the screen easier on the user because the device is not noticeably larger than the monochrome Palm m125.

 

Compared with the Palm m515, the m130 is noticeably brighter and has a bluer light – it seems a more natural colouration to the backlight.  When displaying static images, it is a nicer screen to use.

 

When you start scrolling or showing moving images, the m130’s responses are a little bit slower than the m515.  This is more associated with the m515’s very quick screen update rather than any inherent weakness of the m130.

 

Sound and Notifications

 

The m130 has the standard sound setup of a PalmOS 4·x unit, so it can produce a range of beeps, but not much more.  However, the m130’s speaker is significantly louder than the IIIxe, and louder even than the m515.

 

Storage

 

The m130 has the standard PalmOS 3·x of 8 Mb of memory - disappointingly, Palm did not give the m130 the full 16 Mb of memory.

 

OBD-II Scanner

 

Although I keep the personal information within my Palm m130 up-to-date and, of course, the device is as capable as versatile as the m515 (my other primary PDA), from mid-January 2004 my m130 is mainly used for a combination of OBD-II Scanner for Kermit, and for entertainment for me.

 

For OBD-II use, the m130 performs well.  The small screen is not a major disadvantage and it’s usually bright enough on the lower setting (although there are times when I do need to use the higher brightness).  Colour adds very little to the software, excepting of course the backlight.  One drawback of running the OBD-II software is the combination of a busy processor, serial connection and backlight is quite demanding on the backlight, so battery longevity is compromised compared to normal (and of course, in this respect, the m130 isn’t the best).

 

Battery Performance

 

The Palm m130 comes with a 750 mAh internal rechargeable Lithium Ion Polymer battery, offering at best rather mediocre battery performance compared to some other devices – but this is quite possibly my own review model!

 

Given my own m130’s battery charging problem, and the recharge abilities of the Lithium Ion battery, my m130 typically only receives charge when I Hotsync the unit.  When used as my OBD-II Scanner device, the m130’s battery longevity surprised me.  I had only managed close to six hours of uptime before the device needed more power, but I have used the unit for over eight hours of driving with it constantly displaying data.

 

Nevertheless, when making a short stop (for example, buying petrol) and the m130 isn’t in use for OBD-II duties, I have found myself plugging it into the charger for a few minutes of charge.  Thanks to the speed at which the m130 absorbs power, I have only once found the device shuts down on me through a low battery!

 

Away from the OBD-II use, the m130 has been tested as providing approximately ten hours of use when the backlight is at the low setting, and approximately five hours with the backlight at the high setting.  Unfortunately, because the device requires the backlight to be usable, it is not possible to obtain an uptime without the backlight.

 

Expansion

 

Palm’s m130 comes with a SD I/O slot, meaning it can access a number of memory cards or the Palm Bluetooth card. This is especially useful given that the m130 comes with 8 Mb of memory, not 16 Mb.

 

Summary

 

The mid-range Palm m130 has few faults.  It’s fast and colourful, it’s comfortable to use and it has respectable battery performance, even despite the device’s dependency on the backlight.  The two weaknesses are that the screen is difficult to use outside or in bright light and the unit only comes with 8 Mb as standard, where 16 Mb would make it rather more useful.

 

Whilst both of these weaknesses are addressed with the m515, the m130 satisfies the “mid range” remit very well.  I’m very impressed with my review machine, so much so that I might have to keep it!

 

Device Update

 

This image to the left illustrates how the m130 spends much of it’s time: hooked up to Kermit as his OBD-II Scanner.  This isn’t to say that this is all the m130 does, it just so happens that during dull days (over half the year!) the m130’s screen is an excellent choice for OBD-II data duties.