Gmail’s desktop offline mode relies on browser extensions, but Google engineers have figured out a way to use HTML5 standards—supported by the iPhone, Android and Pre’s webkit browsers—to accomplish the same thing natively.
Offline Gmail was one of the greatest promises of Google Gears, and it’s finally available in Gmail Labs—with a few unexpected extras.
Google is furthering the migration of pretty much everything to the cloud by offering offline Google Docs support, which will be powered by Google Gears. Effectively, the applications you use will have data stored locally until you get back in range of your Wi-Fi hotspot, where updating will then occur seamlessly. The functionality will start to roll out in the coming week, with some users being granted immediate access.
