Google is on a roll at I/O, with the second day of proceedings again bringing in a number of notable announcements and releases that will certainly please iOS users. Day two of the event is well underway with delegates and attending developers being informed that Google's Chrome browser has been released for iPhone and iPad and is now available for download immediately.
If day two of the annual Google I/O conference has taught us anything, it is that Google clearly recognizes the need to offer native experiences of their services to the millions of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners around the world. Today, Google has announced the official Drive app for iOS along with an update to Docs which brings offline editing support to users.
Google I/O 2012 has so far exceeded all expectations I had from the event. The number and variety of announcements is enough to rival Apple’s at WWDC. So far, we’ve seen an updated version of Android (4.1 Jelly Bean), a Nexus tablet, a show-stopping Google Glasses demo and, the news we will be discussing in this post, new Google+ apps and features. Check it out after the jump.
If you’re an iPhone owner since 2007, the introduction of iOS 6 may represent what seems like the passing of an old friend as Apple cast out the old and brought in the new with the replacement of Google Maps with their own mapping system. A large group of users are willing to embrace change and really have no opinion on the situation, but with Google providing a tried and tested comprehensive mapping experience, some are understandably skeptical about the whole affair.
Apple has invested a lot of time and money into their mobile devices and the advanced iOS software that powers them. Hardware such as the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are some of the most powerful examples of mobile consumer tech on the market today, with Apple's mobile operating system being the perfect companion, thanks to its advanced features and elegant aesthetics.
The development team over at Google have today pushed the button on the 1.2.7812 update for their iOS Gmail application and with it comes a number of improvements, feature upgrades and user-interface changes that have been specifically requested by Gmail users. The official iOS Gmail client has come in for quite a bit of criticism since its launch due to the fact that some feel it is little more than a wrapper for the web service and does not offer a true native experience, something Google hopes the update will help with.
There's no doubting the massive increase in Apple since the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007, but even if you've been an avid follower since the early days, a relatively new App Store app aims to test even the most knowledgeable Cupertino enthusiast.
I’m a big fan of music discovery services but, unfortunately, the most popular ones like Pandora, Spotify, last.FM don’t work outside a handful of supported countries where streaming music from big music labels is allowed. Outside these countries, you have services like GrooveShark which, really, is the poor man’s Spotify. There is, however, one not-so-famous service that not only works outside the USA and Europe but also offers excellent music discovery features for free.
Thanks to a marked increase in cloud-computing options, the days of connecting a physical cable in order to transfer files to and from a mobile device look to be behind us. Dropbox has been the omni-present offering, although with Apple, Google, and Microsoft all joining the fray with their respective services, competition for supremacy is certainly driving up the standards.
Although mobile devices have garnered a reputation for occupying the "casual" gamer with tricky puzzles, there are plenty of high-end, aesthetically sound titles resembling the console experience. Of the car racing titles, the Asphalt series is one of the foremost, and having been present on mobile devices prior to the App Store, it has still found a welcome home on Apple's application portal.
