Google Maps offline search, navigation announced
Google has announced an offline mode for Maps, which will let you search for places and navigate to them even if you’re mobile Internet connection is unavailable.
Speaking to developers at Google I/O on 28 May 2015, Google vice-president of engineering Jen Fitzpatrick said that the search giant is rethinking its products to work better in developing markets.
Among the challenges smartphone users face in such markets are unstable and slow Internet connections.
Offline Maps, which will launch later in 2015, is also only one of the services Google is “rethinking”.
YouTube offline was launched recently, Fitzpatrick said, letting users keep a video offline for up to 48 hours.
Chrome, Google’s web browser, will also be receiving an offline mode.
In addition to “offline modes” for apps and services, Google will also try to detect when your are on a slow Internet connection and compensate accordingly.
Starting in Indonesia, users on slow connections will see “optimised” web pages instead of the actual page when the click on a link from Google search.
Android will estimate your network quality and if it detects that it is slow it can automatically adapt and pull fewer images from a web page.
More on Google and YouTube
Free unlimited storage on Google Photos launched
Google Brillo: operating system for the Internet of Things
Epic Google GIF response to YouTube live streaming rumours
Loading ...