PalmOne m125 Handheld

The curved base of the Palm m125 fits snugly and comfortably in the palm of your hand. It features a protective cover that flips up and is flexible at the end--a nice touch to prevent damage if you scrape it against anything while opening. It also has a window on the cover that lets you check the time by pressing the button that pokes through.

Like other Palm handhelds the Palm m125 doesn't have a keyboard. Instead, you write shorthand-like strokes on the special writing area at the bottom of the backlit grayscale screen, which the m125 recognizes as letters. You can also tap with the stylus to type letters using an onscreen keyboard, as well as open menus and select icons. (For more keying power, you might consider the optional Palm portable keyboard.)

The Palm operating system (OS) is very efficient, so the 8 MB memory is enough to store a lot of data and quite a few applications, too. If you want to add more applications or content, you have two choices. First, you can find applications and e-books on the Web, download them to your desktop or laptop hard drive, and synchronize the data using the USB HotSync cradle, which attaches to the Palm universal connector at the base of the handheld. It's the same connector as on the m500 and m505 and Palm has promised to support it for three years, so there should be plenty of peripherals available.

Your other option is to use the expansion slot on the side of the handheld, which accepts Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMediaCard (MMC) memory cards. Palm offers a number of expansion cards with content (such as e-books and Lonely Planet travel guides), applications (the PalmPak language translator, for example), and games. You can also store applications and content on memory cards (such as those from Viking or SanDisk) without sacrificing any of the Palm m125's 8 MB memory.

The Palm m125 comes with Palm OS 4.0, which has new e-mail and Web browsing software, and enables you to send SMS (Short Message Service). You can use infrared to connect to your cell phone for a wireless connection, or add an optional modem to connect to a standard phone line.

In addition to the standard built-in utilities and the Palm Desktop application (for both Windows and Mac), you get extra software including an e-book reader, Documents To Go (for viewing and editing Word and Excel documents), and AvantGo (which downloads Web content, such as news from BBC or the latest soccer scores).

For a budget PDA, the small, light Palm m125 has some nice design touches, is loaded with software extras, and can be customized with thousands of available Palm OS applications. It may not be the most powerful PDA on the market, but its expansion capabilities certainly kick it up a notch. --Mary Branscombe and Agen G.N. Schmitz

Pros:

• Expansion card slot for SD and MMC memory cards
• Lots of bonus software, including Documents To Go and Mobile Internet Kit software
• USB universal connector ready for lots of peripherals

• Not as thin as the Palm m500 series

The Palm m125 handheld comes with Palm's classic information management applications, including Date Book, Address Book, To-Do List, and Memo Pad. You can also jot down notes quickly using the Notepad feature, which works like an electronic sticky note.

Additionally, the Palm m125 comes with a CD-ROM packed with bonus productivity, communication, and entertainment software--including AOL for Palm, MultiMail SE (for e-mail), DataViz Documents to Go (for viewing Word and Excel documents), Palm Reader (for e-books), AvantGo (for Web content after synchronization or with Internet connection), and Vindigo (for finding places to eat and shop).

You can back up data with your PC or Macintosh in seconds with the included USB HotSync cradle. And it works with all the same accessories as the Palm m100 handheld--including keyboard, digital camera, and an array of color faceplates.

A rubberized flip cover protects your handheld screen when it's not in use. It features a window so you can quickly view the time and alarm reminder messages when your handheld cover is closed. And, as with other Palm handhelds, you can use the infrared port to instantly exchange and store information--such as business card data--at the touch of a button.

With the expansion card slot, you can back up your data without synchronizing with your PC, expand the memory capacity to hold e-books and other applications, and add modules such as a dictionary-thesaurus and Lonely Planet CitySync guides. It is compatible with both MultiMediaCards (MMCs) and Secure Digital (SD) cards.

The Palm m125 handheld ships with desktop and HotSync software for both PC and Macintosh systems. The HotSync cradle connects to your computer's USB port. To connect to a PC or Mac serial port, you will need to order the optional serial cradle.

The m125 comes with a USB HotSync cradle, a stylus, a protective flip-cover, and two AAA alkaline batteries. It is backed by a one-year warranty.

For those of you on the fence trying to determine whether you should by the M100, M125 or the higher end M500/505's here's what I considered...

If you ABSOLUTELY only need the Palm for light use and don't care about additional memory or have an affinity for games, add-on's, etc...then purchase the M100/105. If that isn't the case, you'll pitch it or have given it away...because you will have run out of memory by the end of the year (and it isn't upgradeable).

The M125 is great buy because you get much of the M500/505 functionality at a lesser price, plus you have the ability for the expansion card -- for more memory, games, etc. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that the meeting reminder "dings" pretty loud. So if you're in a meeting it can become annoying listening to the reminder (along with the cell phone, pagers, etc). I believe the 500/505 has a vibrating option. Also, the 500/505 have rechargeable batteries, so you don't have to keep replacing batteries -- there's pro's and con's on both, I suppose it depends whether you travel a lot.

So, other than the "cooler" look, battery functionality and vibrating option that comes with the 500/505, for me...the M125 was a great a buy.

Regarding the cradle...if you're on NT at work, get ready to purchase the serial cradle, since the USB won't work. On the upside, I use the USB cradle at home.

Before you make a decision, be sure to check out Amazon's comparison table -- which enables you to line up each product that you're considering...it's extremely helpful.

One note -- if you believe that you'll buy a lot of the Palm accessories, I would do it with your initial order. You'll save shipping $$, probably get a pretty competitive price and not have to pay sales tax (and no, I don't work for Amazon).

Good luck!


Excellent product   July 10, 2002
Chris (Athens, GA)
60 out of 62 found this review helpful

I'm thinking that the only people who post on this section of amazon.com are the unlucky ones. You know, the ones who buy a car, then after driving it off the lot have an accident? Yeah, that's the case. I've had my Palm M125 for about 4 months now, and have had NO with it. Now, you may think that this is an isolated incident, but several people I know have Palm M-series PDAs, and they are the same way (No problems).

But I'm not here to yap about how wrong the previous reviewers are. So I'll hop on my soap box and start reviewing.

From the very instant you turn on the Palm M125, its smooth sailing. Palm OS 4.0.1 is easy to use, yet has the complexity that techno-geeks like me crave. Think of it as a safe haven from "Windows" OS. The applications are stored under various files, and they are all easy to exit (there isn't an alert window that says "Are you sure?"). But it's really the little things that set the Palm apart from Pocket PC or the Apple Newton (although the Newton isn't a bad choice either ^_^). Palm OS is very much unlike Pocket PC for the following reasons:

1.) The people who wrote the OS obviously know that the Palm computing platform can't be a full portable office. They Accept that. Instead of trying to create this universal bridge between the PC and the PDA (as Pocket PC horribly tries to do), it tries to ASSIST you. Keeping track of names, phone numbers, addresses, web clippings, word and excel documents, and task lists. However, even though it's not a full portable office, the Palm OS lets you take the bare minimum that you need. You can send you Excel and Word documents to you PDA via "Documents ToGo" (which came with my Palm), and you can edit them as well. You can synchronize your e-mail, and respond (when you HotSync, the respond e-mail will be placed on the "Response" queue of the e-mail client.) That to me is enough to buy it (and the Franklin Covey suite is a nice addition as well). But you`re probably saying "But Pocket PC can do all those things too" or "I'm going to buy a Palm, I just don't know which one. I'm already convinced." I will address each one individually.

2.) The Pocket PC is a lot like its Windows counterpart. It has to be the center of attention. Just go to a place where you can demo a pocket pc. You'll find it more stress than anything else. But I notice this: The people who complain about errors in the Palm OS don't complain about the errors in Pocket PC. You know why? Because they've come to expect errors from Microsoft products. I'm not trying to sound like a renegade, but think about it. When was the last time you batted an eye when you're Windows XP machine said "Fatal Error line 33334.222x 32" and then froze? You didn't because we have low standards for Microsoft products. Palm is the other way around. I've had about 4 errors on Palm, none of which were fatal (mainly just me taking up to much memory). But I almost freaked out, because it was so out of character for my PDA to do that. Besides, Pocket PC is expensive compared to the Palm Pilot.

3.) Which one are you going to get? I would recommend this one. The M100 doesn't have an I/R port and doesn't have an expansion slot. M105 has an I/R port but no expansion. Jump up to the M125 you get both plus 8 Megs of memory. You might want to bump up to the M130, which is the same except the screen is color. The M505 and M515 are big steps up. A few hundred dollars, so I would only advise those for the serious Palm fans.

But why shouldn't you go to the Palm VII or Palm IIIc? Simple: Compatibility. Most of those PDAs are running Palm OS 3.0 or lower. That's fine if you never want to add software or anything like that. Most (95%) Palm software requires Palm OS 3.5 and up. M125 comes with Palm OS 4.0.1.

4.) Regarding the "sharp edges" and "hard to read screen". Again, I think we have an isolated incident. This sharp edges thing cracks me up. I wonder if when he reviews a book he says "It was a fine book, but the edges on the hard back almost hurt me." Give me a break. The screen is small, but it's easy to read if you have eye balls.


What a great little tool to help organize your life   January 25, 2002
Jeff Edwards (Twin Falls, Idaho)
35 out of 36 found this review helpful

I jumped on the PDA bandwagon a couple of years ago...but instead of doing research, I purchased the cheapest model on the market, and regretted it almost immediately. I won't even go into what I was duped into buying (partially because I have my dignity to maintain...), but suffice it to say I was most disappointed that I purchased a product that was NOT Palm Powered. Simply put, if you buy something that cannot support Palm OS products, you are selling yourself short.

When I finally got around to buying mine, I did the research in advance, and decided I wanted something small, yet I wanted it to be able to upgrade if I wanted or needed it later on. This ruled out some of the cheaper models that are both offered by Palm and Handspring. I ended up choosing the M125 simply because it had the built-in memory I wanted (8MB) and was capable of upgrading with a number of cards that offered everything from maps to games to an additional 16MB of memory. This seemed to me to be not only the best choice, but also the most practical as well. The M125 is also smaller, too -- which was one of the selling points for me. I could've gone with a PDA with a much larger screen and still small (such as the Visor Edge or the Palm M500) but overall, they didn't seem to offer much more than what the M125 came with, and they were both a great deal more expensive, which helped to cement my decision even further.

From the programs that came with the M125 right out of the box, to the host of free programs available on the web (if you look in the right places...) to the multitude of cards I can choose to upgrade my PDA, I have been most thrilled with my purchase.
Yes, for those nay-sayers out there, the screen IS small, but my eyesight is fine, and it hasn't seemed to be a problem for me at all. Plus, the accessories the M125 has (along with the M100 & the M105 models) make this a pretty nifty choice to make. From over a dozen different styled covers, specially fitted leather carrying cases (I happen to use mine as my wallet now and carry it with me everywhere) to peripherals that are being added to on a nearly daily basis, the prospects for my new handheld are almost limitless. In short, I am VERY happy with my purchase.

Pros: SMALL, sleek, 8MB memory, upgradable, thousands of programs available (many are free) & fashionable accessories

Cons: SMALL screen (if your eyesight is good, this is NOT a problem), the touch-screen sometimes has the tendency to not match up with the stylus and needs to be re-calibrated every once-in-a-while

Weigh these specifics versus the other PDA's out there, and if price IS a factor, the M125 quite possibly could be YOUR next purchase. Hope this helps, I know reading other reviews certainly helped me in MY decision. Good luck.


Fantastic Product   September 21, 2001
Mario Rizzi (New York)
24 out of 25 found this review helpful

I think that the new m125 will turn out to be a fantastic product for any new Palm user who would like to have the basics of a Palm Handheld. The software which is included is very functional and it is very easy to acces the Internet with the m125 as with most other Palm's. The expansion memory slots are a God-sent and and because it uses the newest Palm 4.0 OS, you know you will be getting a quality product which will remain at the bleeding edge of compatability for years to come. If you are thinking about purchasing a handheld computer, you should seriously consider the new m125. It's a great value buy for the functionality and compatability it offers.


This is the Palm I was looking for!   September 21, 2001
23 out of 24 found this review helpful

I was so excited to hear about the debut of this new Palm. The m125 has all the funtionality I wanted and was considering buying an m500 to get, while being inexpensive and allowing me to use the accesories I already own from my m100. The slightly smaller width of the m100 series fits much better in my hand than my husband's Vx, and I love having the ability to change the faceplates to suit my mood. While my m100 is less than a year old, I have already filled up its 2mb of memory. The 8mb of memory the m125 has, along with the ability to use the multimedia cards, means this should be the Palm a use for quite a few years. I would definitely recommend this Palm.