Google Maps Mobile 5 Offline Mode Lower data use

Last night Google's Andy Rubin finally unveiled the tablet-friendly version of the Android OS. Rubin showed off Android 3.0, aka "Honeycomb," on a prototype Motorola tablet—and promptly threw the nascent Android tablet market into further confusion.

Google has always had a weird relationship with its Android manufacturer partners. Most importantly, Google blesses and controls the Android Market, which is the way most third-party apps get sold for Android gadgets.


Google has demoed Google Maps for Mobile 5, a new version of its mapping software on the Motorola prototype tablet. Now, using this new technique, Google will send the necessary information to your phone and the phone will itself render those maps (presumably using the 3D graphics chips that are on the above-mentioned phones). Thus, this feature is not expected to work on your cheap Android phone. Another advantage of using Vector graphics?




There's also offline caching of map data; so in case your network goes out while you're navigating to your location, Google Maps will still route you with just the guidance from your GPS chip.