Topics: Mobile

Now Google Gears Takes Smartphone Apps Offline

Posted by Eric Zeman, Mar 4, 2008 10:41 AM

Google recently announced that Gears is available for the Windows Mobile platform. This will allow you to continue using your Web-based applications even when you lose your data connection or are in an offline mode. Now you have one less excuse for not getting your projects done on time.

Any mobile professional knows how frustrating it is to be using a mobile Web-based application on your smartphone and lose your connection. Unless you have some great software controlling your packet session, you can lose where you were and have to start all over again. Or simply lose the ability to use the app. Either way, it's no fun. Well, for certain Windows Mobile 5 and 6 applications, that will no longer be a problem.

Google has made its Gears software available for pocket Internet Explorer on WinMo 5 and 6, and is working on developing a mobile version of Gears for other browsers and other platforms, including Android. In order for Gears to work, though, the applications you're using need to be Gears-enabled. To that end, Google is making it easier to develop Gears-enabled mobile Web apps. Developers can grab more info here.

Google Mobile product manager Charles Wiles walks us through an example of how it works:

Take Zoho and Buxfer, for example: Zoho is a powerful suite of Web-based productivity applications, while Buxfer is an innovative personal finance Web application that helps you track your money. With Google Gears for mobile integrated into mobile Zoho and Buxfer, you can now access these Web applications even when your phone is disconnected from the mobile Web. Stuck on a plane? No problem -- you can still read your docs on your mobile with Zoho Writer Mobile offline. Want to buy that new plasma TV, but can't remember how much is in your account? Check your balance with Buxfer's mobile Web application, even if there is no cell phone signal. Try them out on your Windows Mobile 6 device by going to m.buxfer.com or mobile.zoho.com.

Now there's no excuse to for not working on airplanes. With Gears, your boss knows you can get at your apps and still be productive, even when you might not want to be.

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