ALP v3.0 and ALP mini is announced, new Palm OS

[madhyena]

The Worldwide Mobile Standard

ACCESS Linux Platform™ enables the creation of world-class mobile phones and wireless devices by providing an integrated, flexible, and complete commercial-grade LINUX® platform designed for the worldwide mobile phone and converged device markets.

Setting a New Standard
ACCESS Linux Platform sets a new standard for mobile Linux devices. Using Linux technology, the worldwide standard for open source, the ACCESS Linux Platform software combines best-in-class open source Linux components with proven mobile technologies from ACCESS. These components have been optimized and integrated to provide a flexible, customizable and open operating system software platform. Handset and mobile device manufacturers, operators and third party developers will find the ACCESS Linux Platform enables them to design and deliver exciting new products.



ACCESS Linux Platform Product Overview
ACCESS Linux Platform comes from the creators of the successful mobile operating system Garnet™ OS (formerly known as Palm OS®) and continues the Garnet OS heritage of enabling the development of full-featured, easy to use connected mobile devices. The ACCESS Linux Platform software includes native applications for communications, entertainment, and productivity. It also has application window management, device memory management, and navigation models designed to make mobile products easy to use. A comprehensive suite of telephony and messaging applications are included with the platform, including a dialer, text and multimedia messaging, and e-mail. Also the telephony subsystem in the platform exposes services to applications by abstracting the underlying radio interface, allowing for easy licensee adaptation.

ACCESS Linux Platform media applications and middleware are built on the open source Linux gstreamer multimedia software. The platform comes with a full suite of media applications for music, photos, and video; it also has a flexible and standards based media framework with streaming capabilities, and an extensible set of optimized media codecs which make the delivery of audio and video from the internet easy and its playback a seamless experience.

The ACCESS Linux Platform comes with PIM applications that manage a user's contacts and calendars. Using SyncML based HotSync™ technology it is possible to stay synchronized with Microsoft Outlook, the ACCESS™ Desktop for the PC, and operator-grade PIM servers. Included in the ACCESS Linux Platform is the world-class NetFront™ Browser, which supports the full Internet, has easy pan and
zoom navigation capabilities, smart fit of content for small screens, and fast rendering of web pages. The NetFront™ products, including NetFront Browser, are included in more than 590 million mobile devices worldwide. Global Positioning System services are also available to applications on the ACCESS Linux Platform natively and by using Java™; the coordinates can be transmitted to Internet platform services to provide “Near Me” data, as well as to location stamp photos taken with a mobile camera. Customization to meet specific licensee and operator technology, branding, and user interface requirements is possible using the ACCESS Linux Platform™ PDK (Product Development Kit).

A World of Applications
ACCESS Linux Platform provides third party developers the opportunity to create new and differentiated applications. Because ACCESS Linux Platform supports ACCESS Linux native, Garnet OS, or Java runtime environments, ACCESS Linux Platform represents an attractive opportunity for third party developers. The ACCESS™ Developer Network (ADN) is a free, global program connecting developers to tools, technical information, comprehensive support, and distribution channels. ADN provides technical and business development support to assist mobile developers in launching applications and services for Garnet OS and the next-generation ACCESS Linux Platform.

Features | ACCESS Linux Platform

Telephony and Communications

• Full-featured telephone application with speed dial,
• call forward/wait/hold/bar, & multi-party conferencing
• OMA Device Management v1.2
• Multihoming on GPRS and 3G networks
• IMPS, SMS, MMS, Cell Broadcast, IMAP4, POP3

Input and Navigation

• 12-key keypad with 5 way input and navigation support
• Stylus based touch screen input and navigation support
• Finger touch input and navigation
• Accelerometer support

Desktop Software and HotSync Software

• Manage personal information on a Windows XP or Vista desktop computer with the ACCESS™ Desktop or Microsoft Outlook to add, edit or delete contact records, calendar events, memos and tasks and synchronize using HotSync software, which now supports OMA DS v1.2 (SyncML)
• Backup and restore information between the device and desktop as well as install native, Palm OS, Java applications and media files with HotSync
• PIM synchronization over the air directly with operator synchronization services

Tools
A complete and integrated suite of free application development tools are available to ACCESS Linux Platform application developers through the SDK provided as part of the ACCESS Developer Network program.

Wireless and Connectivity Protocols

• Telephony radios (including 3G) are easily integrated
• with the ACCESS Linux Platform telephony framework
• TCP/IP
• WiFi (802.11g)
• Bluetooth® Technology 2.0 + EDR Technology
• USB
• IrDA
• Serial

Application Environments

• Native application development for the ACCESS Linux Platform includes GTK+ and the Hiker Application Framework™
• Garnet™ VM allows properly written Garnet OS (formerly Palm OS) applications to run unaltered on an ACCESS Linux Platform mobile device
• Java VM, JV-Lite™2 Wireless Edition software, including popular JSR modules including JSR 179 (location), JSR 135 (mobile media), and JSR 185 (wireless profile)
• Language Support
• English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese
• Additional locales and languages can be added

Security

• OMTP compliant security policy framework
• VPN framework

Media Framework Components

• Media selector
• RTP/RTSP streaming
• MP3, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, MIDI, MPEG4-SP, H.263, H.264, WMA/WMV v9
• OMA DRM v1.0 Forward lock, Combined and Separate Delivery

Hardware Requirements

Performanc
400 MHz ARM 9 or greater

Display
240 X 320 display QVGA (optimized for the platform)
320 X 480 display HVGA
800 X 480 display Widescreen (maximum)
65k color support (minimum)
256k color support (maximum)

Memory
128MB RAM (minimum)
128MB Flash EFIGS (minimum); two-byte localization
or a 3G application suite may require more memory

Native Applications

• NetFront™ Phone
• NetFront™ Contacts
• NetFront™ Calendar
• NetFront™ Memos
• NetFront™ Tasks
• NetFront™ HotSync™ Manager
• NetFront Browser
• NetFront™ HandMail™
• NetFront™ SMS+
• NetFront™ iMessenger™
• NetFront™ Music
• NetFront™ Videos
• NetFront™ Photos
• NetFront™ Camera
• NetFront™ Document Viewer
• Utilities

1. NetFront™ Clock
2. NetFront™ Calculator
3. NetFront™ Recorder
4. NetFront™ Home Screen
5. NetFront™ File Manager

[Wingit]

In addition, the company has announced a new product based on ALP called the Access Linux Platform mini. ALP mini is targeted at feature phones and low-end smartphones to Internet-enabled, beyond-PC devices, such as portable navigation devices, portable media players and set-top boxes. ALP mini omits Palm OS Garnet compatibility as well as native Linux applications.

[opaper]

"The openness and flexibility of Linux are driving innovation in mobile phones and Internet-enabled devices," said Toru Arakawa, CEO, president and co-founder of ACCESS. "With the introduction of ACCESS Linux Platform mini and the enhanced capabilities of our LiMo-compliant ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0, we can offer our customers a complete range of solutions extending from feature phones through low-end smartphones, to high-end smartphones and Internet devices that will further enable the next generation of mobile Internet use."