Science/Tech
Google Gets Offline Search Option and Navigation
Google Maps will now make itself available offline which means that you would be able to access the map feature even when your phone doesn't have the connectivity. This feature will be made available to Android first and will be coming for iOS soon. According to Amanda Bishop, Google's Product Manager, the need for offline feature came from the fact that there are still people around the world who do not get incessant internet access and even if they do, the data is still expensive and the speed sometime awfully slow. Despite uninterrupted internet access in US, there are still many places that are dead spots in terms of connectivity. Bishop Said, "10% of the time our users are getting slow or no results." Now you can pre-select the areas you will be visiting and download them into your phone to get an offline access, says Tech Crunch.
You can search for the area in your Google app by the city, country or even county and then download it by going to the offline option. When downloaded, this map will automatically move into the offline section from where it can be easily accessed. To prevent large data fees, the maps will only be automatically downloaded if you are connected to a Wi-Fi, as per the official Google Blog. For now, it is just this feature that is being rolled out for the Android users and for iOS it will be available soon. Over a period of time, the users will get more offline features to continue using the Google maps seamlessly even in low speed/no connectivity area.
Once the area has been saved into your phone, you can get turn-by-turn driving assistance, search for business information and when you get internet connection, it will switch back to the online mode automatically, as reported by Engadget.
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