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Several images surfaced from 3GSM of PalmSource's new OS for smartphones, the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP), running on a N60 Haier phone that is for sale in the Chinese market. This initial crop of pictures showed the traditional Palm OS Memo application in emulation mode.

A few additional images have now emerged—of what is still almost certainly ALP in the early stages, so expect changes—thanks to Russian-language site Mobile-Review.

Here's what we've got:

Is this a screen of an early ALP application launcher?

This is a GTK Linux version (a graphical user interface) of the game minesweeper.

MAX is the application framework for ALP. Part of the promise of Max is its ability to run J2ME (mobile Java) software. In this screen shot, you see a J2ME MP3 player running under ALP.

ALP Overview
There's the standard Linux Kernel (version 2.6.12 & above), an optimized implementation of GTK+ (The GIMP Toolkit) for the creation of graphical user interfaces, GStreamer for streaming media, and the SQLite embedded device database engine. PalmSource says it'll also enhance and certify the open source BlueZ libraries to provide ALP with Bluetooth 2.0 support, for example.

The handheld platform developer and its parent company ACCESS also created components and donated them back to the open source community—Open Binder, for instance; a component object framework, similar in general concept to DCOM and CORBA, but better scaled for use on small devices. ALP also includes ACCESS's NetFront browser, as well as messaging and telephony middleware and mobile applications—including PIMs, multimedia, messaging, HotSync and the Palm Desktop—brought over from the old Palm OS.

MAX enables all old Palm OS applications to run under emulation mode on ALP devices. Software created with the new SDK (software developer kit) - due by the end of the year - won't run on traditional Palm platform devices.

While ALP is an open source platform, developing for it is closed; just like Windows Mobile, Symbian or the old Palm OS. That means if someone creates software for ALP via the upcoming SDK, then the application won't run on any other mobile Linux platform without being ported.

As mentioned above, there's support for mobile Java (J2ME), which runs across mobile platforms, and is already compatible with a good portion of the cellular handsets on the market, including Palm-based devices, as well.

MAX enables users to run multiple applications and perform several tasks simultaneously. It supports one- and two-handed user interface schemes, five-way navigation, two dedicated keys, as well as touch-screen and stylus input mechanisms. And since PalmSource is dealing with licensees and carriers, MAX offers partners plenty of customization options.

For example, should a PalmSource customer prefer Trolltech's Qtopia opens source graphics library to GTK+, then the platform developer would be willing to switch them out. The same goes for the Linux Kernel, as PalmSource told internetnews.com it could replace the standard one used in ALP with MontaVista's if need be.

The first ALP devices most likely won't ship until well into 2007.