GMail – Google’s web email system that is also the default mail system for G1 Android users – will soon be browsable while offline on the iPhone and Android handsets.
GMail on the desktop (i.e. via a desktop web browser) has had offline capability for a while now thanks to Google Gears – a browser plugin for Internet Explorer & Firefox (it was built in to Chrome) that let Google apps like GMail store data on your PC and work even when you couldn’t get a net connection.
At the Mobile World Congress yesterday, Google Vice Prez of engineering, Vic Gundotra, showed off an offline version of GMail that should allow users of both Android phones and – surprisingly – the iPhone/iPod Touch, too.
Amazingly, there appears to be no plugin required, either (just as well in the case of the iPhone – Apple generally frowns on such things). Instead, Gundotra says that offline GMail is possible purely using HTML5 standards, which are implemented by the WebKit browser used on both mobile platforms.
via Engadget
