Access Linux For Palm Reaches Version 3

Access has been showing off its newest version of ALP - the LiMo compatible mobile OS which maintains full compatibility with Palm software written to run on Palm OS 5/Garnet. Looking more like a traditional mobile OS than Palm's iPhone aping WebOS, the open source ALP platform comes with the latest version of the pretty impressive NetFront browser and also the Palm/Garnet emulator which has been extensively beta-tested on its behalf by large numbers of Nokia N8x0 Internet Tablet users.

The ALP homescreen is very similar to that of Android and
can be similarly customised with widgets, it even has an Application 'drawer' at the bottom of the screen (to match Android's) and supports multiple home screen pages. I particularly like the way that web pages are shown as mini-thumbnails, whether as home screen links or in the bookmarks drawer of NetFront. The other built-in applications look good and a comprehensive set are included by default, including threaded SMS and video calling applications; a photo viewer that looks to be pretty quick at photo rendering and an MMS application for sending those photos to other phone users - one up on the iPhone already.


It looks like Russia is likely to be the first landing spot for a shipping ALP device, however on the basis of what we've seen and the compatibility with previous Palm applications theres a golden opportunity for an OEM to take a punt on something a bit different and hoover up those Palm users that Palm themselves have abandoned with their switch to WebOS.