Palm m125, m505

Palm's latest entries—the m125 and the m505—incorporate integrated SD/MMC expansion slots, Palm's Universal Connector, and Palm OS 4.0. Palm is still the major force in the PDA market and offers models for many market sectors, but its innovations are trailing those of HandEra, Handspring, and Sony, the leading Palm OS licensees.

The m125 is the high end of the m100 series and may be beyond the purse strings of its intended consumer market. The cute, tapered design feels like a small spiral notebook, with a digital clock viewable through a window in the flip-top lid. No other PDA offers consumers as much customization potential, with 19 cover colors and textures ranging from dull gray to leopard skin. With third-party covers available too, you can personalize an m125 whether your taste runs to Beacon Hill, the boardroom, or South Beach.

The Universal Connector supports true USB connections (unlike earlier Palm devices) and lets you connect fast I/O peripherals to the m125. According to Palm, all future models will include the same connector, which should improve the availability of cross-model accessories. These two devices handily outperformed all other Palm OS PDAs on our performance tests.

Like the m500 series, the m125 has an SD slot on the left side. But when an SD or MMC card is inserted, it protrudes slightly and feels more vulnerable than a top-panel expansion slot design would.

The backlit monochrome screen is reasonably visible both indoors and out. When you use the Palm Reader application, you can view text in either portrait or landscape mode, but we found the screen too small to read text comfortably even in the largest font.

There is no audio or upgradable flash ROM in the m125, which limits its appeal for mobile professionals. Consumers looking for a bargain have other, less expensive options from Palm. And from other manufacturers.

On the other hand, for mobile professionals who want a sure thing, there is little risk in choosing the Palm m505. Nearly identical in size to the extremely popular Palm V, the m505 adds a color screen, the Universal Connector slot, and an SD/ MMC expansion slot. The m505's side-lit, reflective color display isn't as bright as the Palm IIIc's when inside, but outside it's equal even to the Compaq iPAQ's screen, which is as good as it gets. Unique to the m500 series is the backlit Graffiti area, which helps you see the icons on the sides of the area but doesn't illuminate your Graffiti strokes.

Relative to some of its competition, the m505 is light on bundled software, sharing the productivity and entertainment applications of the m125 and adding only the Expense application and Infinity Software's PowerOne Advanced Calculator. Unlike the m125, the m505 does have rechargeable batteries and includes a flashable ROM for future OS upgrades. Like previous Palm models, the m505 does not have a microphone, speaker, or headphone jack, limiting its value as an entertainment device.