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A big part of my job requires me to gather information such as numbers dealing with products, plus test results. I have been using notepads, scribbling notes and figures, flipping pages, which would result in hunting through them compiling into reports. I did not need a lot of memory to accomplish my task, something simple, no frills, would do nicely. I only needed something to record my data long enough to compile into reports. I have read a large number of reviews concerning this Palm before I decided to purchase. And I was a little hesitant because of many of those reviews. I am glad that I ignored many of the negative reviews concerning this product. I am so satisfied, and the Palm m105 is perfect for my needs. The screen is smaller than most other PDAs, a whopping 2”x2” or 160x160 pixels, 4 gray scale graphics. This renders any text on the small side; if anyone has a problem with that you may want to look elsewhere. I have bifocals and find no problem with using this screen. A backlight can be accessed by holding down the power button for a couple of seconds and shut off with the same method. Contrast can be adjusted by software in the preferences. The unit is powered by two AAA batteries, which could be a negative to some. This is one of the things that drew me to this little PDA, no proprietary battery. It is supposed to get a lot of mileage on those two batteries. And I will point out that this is the only power source, no AC adapter available. There is the concern of changing out batteries and not loosing data that is valuable, you have 60 seconds. That is if you get a Palm m105 that is in good condition. I tested this out right after I got mine, which is used. Most of these models are used if you pick them up presently. I entered information then changed my batteries and everything was good. If it had lost the data that would mean it had faulty capacitors used in holding the data. They go bad over time. Input is handled by touch screen only, unless you hunt down the optional keyboard and wrestle your way through hooking it up to a modern computer to install the drivers that are needed. Which brings up another point; if you want to connect to anything Win XP and beyond it can be a bit finicky and troublesome, unless you have technical skills, serial port is needed. It does have the ability to transfer files through its infrared IrDA port. It can send and receive simple text files. I have sent files to my main PDA this way and converted them to the standard Word file. The system is simple and limited. It has only 8 Megs of memory. It contains a calculator, address book, date book with the means to set it up to alert you with an alarm for those much needed appointments and meetings. It has a clock accessed with a simple button touch, even when it is off. A memo pad with on screen keyboard or the use of Palms own “Graffiti.” The Note pad can be used to draw pictures. It even has a “to do” list to keep organized. The Palm m105 is basically designed to take the place of that simple planner that you have carried around under your arm. Nothing fancy, and that’s were it excels. Modern situations may call for a more sophisticated PDA, because the needs and demands are much greater than when this little jewel hit the market. For a simple little planner, the Palm m105 can do it. If that is the sum of your expectations and needs, then I think you will be as satisfied I am. And they are inexpensive to obtain being a great starter PDA.Read full review
Just received yesterday and it's working out great. I bought it to replace a much older Palm that I've had for about 10 years, but was damaged. Given that statement, I compare this review with my experience with that Palm. I like that fact that it's small and comes with a face-plate. I also like the feature that allows you to see the time and date through the opening of the face-plate (maybe unnecessary, but I like it). The other interesting feature is the NotePad application, which allows you to write messages on a blank screen (think electonic Sticky Note). All other Palm features (date book, addresses, calculator, etc.) are the same. As mentioned, I like the fact that the M105 is small, but this only means that the screen is smaller too. So a note to those hard-of-seeing. Regarding vision also, the backlight is reversed- so the lettering becomes lighter, while the background becomes darker. Might take a little getting used to, but no big deal. All in all- I wish the M105 was rechargeable (it takes 2 AAAs). Other than that- this thing does the trick.Read full review
I recently purchased a Palm M105 off of eBay. It's a great little unit for the price ($10). I decided to go with the m100 series because they were available for a low price, used 2 AAA batteries instead of an internal battery (avoids any issues of needing to replace the internal rechargable battery if it was no longer holding a charge - if that is ever an issue, I don't know but people sell them so I thought it could be), and it had 8mb of memory. It has nice calendar, contacts list, memo pad and notes pad (write a small note free hand) functions. All in all, very useful and for the price well worth it. There are also a number of freeware programs available on the web. The one con with this model is the backup capacitor. It seems that there is a problem with the little coin type capacitor that is used as a backup for memory when changing the batteries in these units. Just do a google search on +palm +m100 +capicitor. You'll see references to people asking questions about losing what is in the unit's memory when changing the batteries. I don't know the stats of who has problems and who does not, but my unit has the problem. Apparently the capacitor is rated at 3.3V and there is 3.5V going across it, so over time it will fail to hold a charge. I've tried to change the batteries one at a time and only take a few seconds, but I still lose everything in memory and have to resync to my computer to get it back. For me, this is not a big deal, since all you need to do is resync before you change the batteries, and resync after. I did look into getting a replacement capacitor, but I could not find one with a higher volatage rating. Some people have found replacements and soldered them in place of or beside (in parallel) the existing capacitor. In the end it turned out to be more of a hassle to keep searching for a capacitor and a torx #5 wrench needed to remove the back cover. I'll just be sure to watch the battery level and resynch before I change them.Read full review
It's a good PDA. It's not color it only has 8 megs of ram. I was surprised though how much I could fit on it. The 2mb one would not have been enough at all. I bought it just so I could read ebooks. I can have about 8 ebooks on at one time. It can run most of the programs for palm. It can't run "documents to go" though. That was kind of disappointing. So I can't take a word file with me. It has to be in text. I don't know if a newer one or just one with more memory would be able to do that. I got mine for 10 dollars though so I am happy with it. Plus 6 for shipping.
An easy to use manager for schedules and to do lists. Holds many many contacts with address, phone numbers and e-mail. Its easy to synronize with computer via cradle and serial connection. It has two problems - It uses standard AAA batteries with no external recharging capability. If (WHEN)your batteries go dead - YOUR DATA GOES BYE BYE. Easy to restore if you have kept your files on the computer up to date. The other problem is that it hogs the serial port. It would not let me use my GPS or Cell Phone when the palm software was loaded on the computer. (Both of these devices use the serial port). This has caused me to buy a newer Palm that connects via USB although I was perfectly happy with the M105.
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