General Gaming Article |
- Asus Intros Two New "Pro Gaming" Mobos
- Google Killing Chrome Support for Windows XP, Vista, More
- Newegg Daily Deals: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti, Corsair 430W PSU, and More!
- Valve Marks Down Titles to Celebrate Steam Machine Launch
- New Entry-Level NAS Models from QNAP
- Dell Now Taking Orders for XPS 12 and Alienware Steam Machine
- Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls Surface Book a 'Deluded' Device
- Technolust: GoPro, a New Rig, and Travel Headphones
- Fan of Synology NASes? They Now Have a Router
- Google Maps Now Does Offline Navigation
| Asus Intros Two New "Pro Gaming" Mobos Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:43 PM PST Asus on Wednesday introduced two new "value-packed" ATX motherboards, the B150 Pro Gaming/Aura and the B150 Pro Gaming boards. They're based on the Intel B150 Express chipset and support Intel's latest sixth-generation processors, packed with features such as a dedicated water-pump header, Fan Xpert 3 controls, Intel Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, RAMCache technology, and more. "For the ultimate in cooling and quietness, B150 Pro Gaming/Aura and B150 Pro Gaming both include advanced fan and water-pump controls, coupled to onboard thermal sensors and hardware-level 4-pin/3-pin PWM/DC mode detection—all controlled by the intuitive simplicity of Fan Xpert 3," Asus reports. According to a long list of specifications, the B150 Pro Gaming/Aura includes one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port, six USB 3.0/2.0 ports and six USB 2.0/1.1 ports. There are also six SATA 3 connectors, an M.2 Socket 3 with an M key, support for AMD CrossFireX, and built-in Asus Aura illumination with a number of different modes such as static, breathing, strobing, and more. The B150 Pro Gaming board appears to be the same, only without the cool built-in illumination. There are four DIMMS for up to 64GB of DDR4 2,133MHz RAM, two PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, two PCI Express 3.0 x1 slots, and two PCI slots. There's also an HDMI port that's capable of pumping out a resolution of 4096x2160 at 24Hz, and a D-sub port with a maximum resolution of 1920x1200 at 60Hz. Asus says the two boards have a corrosion-resistant stainless-steel input/output (I/O) panel and durable capacitors that can resist extreme temperature variations of between -55°C and 105°C. The company's ESD Guard protects the board against sudden electrical discharge, promising better overall resilience than the industry standard. Finally, the boards include easy DIY features such as a one-clip Q-Slot graphics card installation, Q-DIMM memory slots with one-sided clips, and the company's Q-Shield that protects the board from cuts. There are also Q-LED lamps for notifying the user of any problems during boot. For the full list of specifications and additional photos, head here. |
| Google Killing Chrome Support for Windows XP, Vista, More Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:38 PM PST Back in April 2014, Microsoft officially ended support of Windows XP, meaning users would be left without the usual security updates and technical support. Since then, Microsoft has been pushing users to switch over to Windows 10, or at least a version of Windows that isn't crusty and decrepit. Surprisingly, Windows XP still captures 11.68 percent of the OS market, a number that has slowly declined over the last several years. Following Microsoft's footsteps, Google on Tuesday announced that it will end support for the Chrome browser on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X versions 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8. The company, which previously warned that Chrome would be supported on Windows XP until the end of 2015, said that Chrome updates will be discontinued because Microsoft and Apple are no longer actively supporting those platforms. "Such older platforms are missing critical security updates and have a greater potential to be infected by viruses and malware," says Google's Marc Pawliger, Director of Engineering and Early Notifier. Official support will be discontinued in April 2016. That means the popular browser will continue to function, but it will not receive security fixes or updates. Naturally, the company encourages Chrome customers using the discontinued operating systems to update to a newer platform to receive the latest versions of the browser. According to Microsoft, Windows Vista will continue to receive extended support until April 11, 2017. However, the platform only commands a 1.73 percent share of the OS market, thus it presumably doesn't have a wide Chrome audience. As Microsoft and Google suggest, customers would benefit from a newer platform such as Windows 7 and the recently released Windows 10. |
| Newegg Daily Deals: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti, Corsair 430W PSU, and More! Posted: 11 Nov 2015 12:42 PM PST Top Deal: Valve is like, 'Hey look everyone, official Steam Machines are here!' and you're like, 'Cool, but I already have a PC, I just need a graphics card upgrade!' Well in that case, we're like, 'Check out today's top deal for an MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Graphics Card for $600 with free shipping (normally $650; additional $30 Mail-in rebate; Free Rainbow Six Siege or Assassin's Creed Syndicate, limited offer)' and Valve is like 'Sweet card! Now go check out our game sale!' Other Deals: Asus Laptop F554LA-NH71 Intel Core i7 5500U (2.40 GHz) 8 GB Memory 1 TB HDD 15.6-inch Windows 10 Home 64-Bit for $500 with free shipping (normally $600) Corsair 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply for $36 with free shipping (normally $40 - use coupon code: [EMCKCKA24]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) Samsung 850 Evo 2.5-inch 1TB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive for $300 with free shipping (normally $338 - use coupon code: [EMCKCKA23]; Free Assassin's Creed Syndicate Game Code w/ purchase, limited offer) Sceptre E248W-1920 Black 24-inch 5ms HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor for $100 with free shipping (normally $120) |
| Valve Marks Down Titles to Celebrate Steam Machine Launch Posted: 11 Nov 2015 12:24 PM PST Ready, set, buy! If you pay full price for a video game on PC, you're doing it wrong (unless you're snagging it on the day of it's release). Valve ensures there are plenty of opportunities to beef up your catalog of games at a discount with sales for any number of occasions, like the holidays, different seasons, a change in the direction of wind, and so forth. And now there's a sale to celebrate the launch of official Steam Machines. The Steam Machine Launch Sale, as it's called, includes a whole bunch of games at discounted prices, some by as much as 75 percent. Included among them are Borderlands 2 ($4.99, down from $19.99), XCOM: Enemy Unknown ($7.49, down from $29.99), Metro Redux Bundle ($7.49, down from $29.99), and Amnesia: The Dark Descent ($4.99, down from $19.99). There are some other nifty deals, like half off Borderlands: The Pre Sequel ($19.99, down from $39.99) and Dying Light ($29.99, down from $59.99). You can also save two-thirds on the remastered version of Grim Fandango ($5.09, down from $11.99), a cult classic in the adventure gaming genre. Valve is pushing hard to increase Steam's footprint and making it a focal point of gaming in the living room, an area that's traditionally been dominated by dedicated game consoles. Steam Machines are an attempt to blur the line between those and gaming PCs -- they're console-sized systems that run a specialized Linux-based OS called Steam OS and work with a custom built Steam Controller. You can find the discounted games as part of Valve's Steam Machine Launch Sale here (Steam Machine not required). |
| New Entry-Level NAS Models from QNAP Posted: 11 Nov 2015 12:18 PM PST On Tuesday, network attached storage (NAS) specialist QNAP updated its "Turbo" line of affordable midrange storage solutions with the launch of the TS-251+ and the TS-451+ models. Built for the home and small office, these NAS units pack quad-core Celeron processors, up to 8GB of RAM, and the company's new QTS 4.2 operating system. The TS-251+ includes two drive bays (hard drives sold separately), two USB 3.0 ports (one on the front, one on the rear) and two USB 2.0 ports on the rear. There's also an IR receiver that supports the QNAP RM-IR002 remote control, two gigabit Ethernet ports, an HDMI port for connecting the NAS directly to an HDTV, 512MB of flash memory, and either 2GB or 8GB of DDR3L memory (two SODIMM slots). The Celeron processor is clocked at 2GHz with burst speeds of up to 2.42GHz. The TS-451+ is a bit beefier, providing four drive bays with a max storage capacity of 32TB. Additional ingredients include two gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports (one on the front, one on the back), two USB 2.0 ports on the rear, an IR receiver, HDMI output, and 512MB of flash memory. Like the smaller model, this version comes with either 2GB or 8GB of RAM (two SODIMM slots), and a quad-core Intel Celeron processor clocked at 2GHz (2.42GHz burst). With the new QTS 4.2 operating system, users have access to the Qsirch app, which features real-time full-text search capability and allows users to search for files and other content stored on the hard drive(s). The operating system is accessed through a browser, allowing the user to download and install apps, making the NAS feel more like a makeshift home theater PC. "The new faster processors allow the TS-251+ and TS-451+ to transcode HD videos on the fly even faster and handle increased concurrent tasks and users with ease," the company says. "These units feature QNAP's myQNAPcloud private cloud service that makes remote access to your files and content easy and secure." QNAP provides mobile apps for both Apple iOS and Android, allowing customers access to their files and media from smartphones and tablets. Additional features include the company's exclusive QvPC technology, real-time and offline HD video transcoding, support for popular video streaming services (DLNA, KODI, ROKU, PLEX, etc), and more. Both models come with a remote control. According to the product pages, the TS-251+ offers read speeds of up to 223MB/s and write speeds of up to 225MB/s in a Windows environment; 205MB/s read and 178MB/s write with AES 256-bit encryption enabled. The TS-451+ provides read speeds of up to 225MB/s and write speeds of up to 224MB/s; 204MB/s read and 158MB/s write speeds with AES 256-bit encryption. The new TS-251+ and TS-451+ are shipping now in the United States and Canada, from popular online and offline retailers like Amazon (TS-251+, TS-451+), Sears, Walmart, Newegg, and more. Depending on the memory capacity, pricing for the TS-251+ runs between $400 and $600; pricing for the TS-451+ runs between $530 and $790. |
| Dell Now Taking Orders for XPS 12 and Alienware Steam Machine Posted: 11 Nov 2015 11:02 AM PST Commence holiday upgrades Dell has two new systems for two very different target audiences available to purchase today. The first is the XPS 12, a 2-in-1 laptop with Skylake inside and a 4K Ultra HD display option, and the second is an Alienware Steam Machine. Starting with the XPS 12, the laptop features a detachable 12.5-inch touchscreen display. The least expensive model is a $1,000 unit with a Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) resolution powered by a 6th Generation Intel Core m5 6Y54 processor. It also has 8GB of LPDDR3-1600 RAM, 128GB solid state drive, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 5MP front-facing camera, and Windows 10 Home 64-bit. The XPS 12 measures 0.63-0.99 inches (H) by 11.46 inches (W) by 7.8 inches (D) and weighs 2.8 pounds. There's room on its svelte profile for two Thunderbolt 3 / USB Type-C ports, a full-size SD card reader, and headset jack. If you want to step up to a 4K display, cost of entry jumps to $1,300. At that price, Dell also doubles the storage to 256GB. For gamers itching to leave the computer room and take residence in the living room (not that you have to do that), Dell's Alienware Steam Machine starts at $450. At that price, you get an Intel Core i3-4170T processor, a custom GeForce GTX GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory that's based on the GTX 860M, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. The system ships with Steam OS, a Steam Controller, and three free games -- Payday 2 with DLC (available in Steam OS in early 2016), Roller Disco Derby, and Screencheat. |
| Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls Surface Book a 'Deluded' Device Posted: 11 Nov 2015 10:12 AM PST Smack talking We're beginning to think that Apple lacks a level headed executive who's willing to take the boss aside and say, "Maybe you should tone down the rhetoric." Of course, toning things down isn't the Apple way, and though we've come to expect exaggerated claims from the Cupertino outfit over the years, some of the things Tim Cook is spouting has us doing a double take. Seriously, Cook's remarks are reaching verbal diarrhea status (apologizes for the visual). In the latest episode of "He Said What!?," Cook told students at Trinity College in Ireland that Microsoft's Surface Book is "deluded." "It's a product that tries too hard to do too much," Cook said, according to Independent.ie, the online portal for Irish Independent, Ireland's largest selling daily newspaper. "It's trying to be a tablet and a notebook and it really succeeds at being neither. It's sort of deluded." If Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wanted to get into a war of words, he could say the iPad Pro doesn't try hard enough and does too little, though Cook, who describes his relationship with Microsoft as being "very good," already said what he thinks about the iPad Pro. To Cook, the iPad Pro is a drop-the-mic product that's going to have consumers turning their noses up at traditional PCs. That's right, calling the Surface Book a deluded device isn't the craziest or most controversial thing Cook's said this week. "I think if you're looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore," Cook stated in an interview with The Telegraph. "No really, why would you buy one?" In case you missed it, Cook went on to basically say we're on the verge of the post-PC era, which is something Steve Jobs tried pitching five years ago. "Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people," Cook continued. "They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones." So to sum things up, the Surface Book with its detachable display and discrete GPU option is a complete failure, but the iPad Pro with its mobile operating system and limited capabilities is a traditional PC killer. We can't wait to see what Cook says next. |
| Technolust: GoPro, a New Rig, and Travel Headphones Posted: 11 Nov 2015 12:00 AM PST The most advanced GoPro yet, a system powerful enough to game at 4K 60fps, and a beautiful pair of ear-huggersWell, well, well. What is it I yearn for? The world's best action camera, a new PC setup that would make most of the PC enthusiast community weep, and the perfect headphones for my travel adventures across the planet. Yeah, I could totally afford these, maybe, if I took out several loans, and sold my sister's kidney. GoPro Hero 4 Black I'm going to admit right now, my two great loves in life: technology and extreme sports—not particularly in that order. So, when the two merge, it creates an almost harmonious symphony of joy in my head. I'm a trail rider, that's what I do. I take a bike, usually with better suspension than most cars, cycle or push it all the way to the top of a large hill, mountain, or cliff top, in dense deciduous forest, then begin my descent downward at velocities that make many of the uninitiated wince. Or at least, I think they'd wince, if they could actually see it clearly. As you can imagine, GoPros really are my jam. A GoPro is a fantastic piece of hardware, whether it's the Hero 4 Black running a stunning 4K 30fps or the far more affordable Silver trucking in 1920x1440. Both of them are great feats of micro-engineering, without which we wouldn't have the diverse and all encompassing action cam market, or footage for that matter, that we have today. Who'd have thought these tiny little cameras would have ever been this popular? Everybody and their dog has one. Could you imagine missing out on Felix Baumgartner launching himself out of that balloon for the first time? That said, there are two things that irritate me about my current action cam, the GoPro Hero 3 White, and both of them relate to my other love, technology. Primarily, the desire for a higher frame rate and a better resolution. Undoubtedly, right now the sweet spot for us PC enthusiasts is 2560x1440. The screens are cheap, they're crammed into phones, laptops, and desktop monitors, and to be quite frank, 60fps at that resolution is pretty stunning. Frame rates particularly are becoming such a problem for me that I can't happily watch a film at the cinema any more without seeing an intense amount of motion blur. All in thanks to that ever-stuttering 24fps directors seem to obsess over. Get out of the way, Quentin Tarantino, I have no time for your "all film, no digital" nonsense. Give me higher frame rates, less motion blur, and smoother sequences, that's all I care about. Damn you, 144Hz monitors, you've ruined my cinema-going experience! What I'd love to do is get my hands on a GoPro Hero 4 Black edition. That would definitely sate my desire for higher resolution, higher frame rate filming. Annoyingly, GoPro hasn't settled on the generic screen size standards just yet. 2.7K? What on earth is that? But at the very least, that is a resolution I could record 60fps with, and then shrink it down to 1440p. Unfortunately, it's hardly a cheap solution to my resolution woes, and if I wanted to satisfy my burning desire for this monumental image-capturing beauty, I'd be sinking an easy $500 into it. Not including any accessories, such as that GoPro dog harness I so desire for my chubby fuzzy companion. What I can do with the GoPro Hero 4 Black that I couldn't do before?Record all of my hard-earned, sweaty, downhill descents through dense forest and mountains in a solid enough quality that warrants watching and uploading to the Internet. It'd also be great for vlogging and any of the YouTube work I'll be doing going forward. It's small, light, portable, and I can attach it to a stick. Custom Water-cooled Parvum Systems ATX X99 Build This may come as a surprise, but I do not have a gaming rig at home currently. Alas, I moved over to work in our Bath offices earlier this year from the back end of nowhere in England. I travel light, and don't drive, and because of that I have had to give my beloved system away to a family member. For the time being, I game on an Asus laptop (Intel Core-i7, 8GB RAM, and a GTX 840M) plugged directly into an Asus PG278Q 27" G-Sync monitor. A far cry from the Geforce GTX 660 Ti, 16GB of RAM, and Intel Core i5-2500K I was using before. I'm in dire need of a new rig. So, then, what am I after particularly? Well, as any system builder will tell you, when planning a new rig, it all comes down to what you're going to be using it for. After all, if all you're going to do is play Minecraft all day, there's no point buying a 5960X and three Titan Xs. You may as well be throwing money into the fire at that point. So, I need to identify what it is I want to do. I've got a pretty fine list of criteria this new mini-dream machine needs to reach. I'm an avid overclocker. I'll be rendering video and live streaming occasionally. I want to game on either a 3440x1440 monitor at 60fps or 2560x1440 at 144fps. I love silent PCs. I need the speed that Samsung brings with their latest M.2 NVMe PCIe drives. And I'd like to build a clean, aesthetically pleasing, fully water-cooled, hard-piped system. System Specs
At this point, you can imagine I'm looking directly at the X99 platform. I want to take advantage of the Asus X99 TUF Sabertooth, mostly because it looks stunning, it's an overclocking monster, and I can hide an M.2 drive under the armor. I'd also like to throw 32GB worth of Corsair DDR4 memory in there. Not so fussed on frequency, as it really doesn't add much to performance. Two Geforce GTX 980 Tis would be my next step. I've had particular fun using EVGA's latest batch of Superclocked ACX 2.0+ variants, so they'd probably be my first port of call. And to top it all off, I'd definitely grab myself an Intel Core i7-5930K. I'm sorry, I'm just not willing to break the bank and hop on the i7-5960X train, even if money was no object. And besides, I've always been a fan of the B-Team anyway. 980 Tis, i5s, yes, please, I'll hang out with the underdogs and melt the faces of those pro components at half the cost anyway. I would opt for the 5820K, it's a fine core, no doubt, but the extra PCIe lanes available to the 5930K will come in handy, ensuring I don't saturate that PCIe bus with all of this lane-hogging hardware. As far as cases are concerned, I've been following a UK-based custom manufacturer for some time now. You've probably heard of them: Parvum Systems. If not, go take a look at the Titanfall water-cooled system that James Walter put together and that'll give you a solid idea as to what they do. In short, think of them as a British, acrylic, Case Labs. That being said, I'm waiting with bated breath for Parvum's full ATX chassis to be launched, god knows they've teased us enough with it. Then it's just a simple case of ordering a custom one, extending the chassis out by 120mm, reversing the layout, and inverting the motherboard tray to make sense with my room and desk orientation. Then I'd throw the lot under water with nickel-plated copper tubing to give it some proper pizazz, a hefty overclock, and plenty of performance later and wham, any game on an ultrawide resolution at max settings and 60fps. Man, do I want that. A boy can dream, right? What I can do with this behemoth of a system that I couldn't do before?Play games beyond a stuttering Diablo 3 and a grainy World of Warcraft, and actually have something to do on weekends and in the evening that doesn't involve staring at a tiny 17-inch screen with awful graphics. I could also do some Twitch streaming, general YouTube work at home, play Ark, and of course, prepare myself for the hype train that will be WoW's next expansion, Legion. Sennheiser Momentum G Black (M2) There's one more thing I'd love to have in my tech-driven life right now, and that's a decent pair of over-ear stereo headphones. I travel a lot, to events down in London, hardware conventions in Europe, and beyond that. Hell, I even have a bad habit of having family over in New Zealand, and that's a journey that can take anywhere from 32–54 hours from the UK (no joke). So having a comfortable solid set of headphones is no laughing matter. It's almost a must. Certainly for journeys like that. I used to have a set of Steelseries 5H V3s. They were almost the perfect set of headphones for me. They were detachable, broke down into individual components, and came with a multitude of adapters depending on whether I wanted to use them on my personal rig, plug into in-flight entertainment, or just ram them into my phone. They didn't even look too garish for a gaming headset; I could wear them out in public without much fear, thanks in part to a graceful design style and also a nifty little favorite of mine, the retractable microphone. The sound quality was pretty solid as well, not too bass heavy, yet just enough treble and mids to keep my keen musician ears happy. Unfortunately, after a year and a half of wear and tear, they died a tragic death. And even with all the soldering and will power I could muster, eventually, the headset just wasn't worth saving. In come the new, vastly more expensive, Sennheiser Momentum G (M2) in black. For me, possibly one of the best pairs of travel headphones out there. Yes, they come with a price tag, a fairly hefty one in fact, of $350. And yes, they're not much use anywhere else, but that's not what this purchase is about. I want these for travel, and that's it. Thanks to the brushed stainless steel, stunning leather covering, memory foam padding, and closed circumaural design of the ear cups, the Momentum Gs are possibly the best traveling headphones I could ever imagine. They're comfortable, compact, and run off a single 3.5mm stereo jack, making them ideal for all those times I want to be incredibly anti-social on planes, trains, and tubes, whilst still looking fashionable. What I can do with these phenomenal ear woofers that I couldn't do before?Well, I'd certainly be able to travel across the globe far more comfortably than I can today. And on long-distance flights and journeys, like the ones I take, that's incredibly important. In fact, I can't emphasize enough how much of a difference this would make to those adventures of mine. Just blocking out the noise would be enough to help me sleep a little easier. |
| Fan of Synology NASes? They Now Have a Router Posted: 10 Nov 2015 11:29 PM PST
According to the company, the new Wireless AC router, the RT1900ac, is a 1900-class device providing speeds of up to 1300Mbps on the 5GHz band and speeds of up to 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. This router is powered by the company's proprietary operating system, Synology Router Manager, packed with features that will give customers complete control over their wireless network. "Some people might ask 'Why is a NAS company getting into routers?'" says company President Alex Wang. "At Synology, we're always pushing the limits of network technology. Our products work as a private cloud, file server, multimedia sever, and file backup – all in one. Since the router connects the storage to the computer, we realized that with more control over the router, we could make even more advancements in NAS. The possibilities are endless." At a glance, the upcoming router will feature Beamforming technology, application layer Quality of Service (QoS), and parental controls that include a built-in DNS-based filter database. Synology said that it will continue to update this database as new inappropriate websites are revealed. Because sites are listed in groups in the database (adult content, drugs, gambling, etc), parents can block entire groups of websites instead of one at a time. A list of specifications shows that the router includes a dual-core processor clocked at 1.0GHz, 256MB of DDR3 RAM, four gigabit Ethernet LAN ports and one gigabit Ethernet WAN port. There are also three antennas, one USB 3.0 port and an SD card slot for sharing photos, music, videos and other files. The company says the router is built for both the home and office, and is easy to manage even for "non-techy" people. "Network attached storage uses wireless and wired Internet connections to access files from anywhere at any time," the company adds in a press release. "Synology leveraged this technology to create a wireless router with NAS capabilities." The RT1900ac Wireless AC router is expected to go retail in Q1 2016, selling for around $150. Congrats to the company for receiving the CES 2016 award! |
| Google Maps Now Does Offline Navigation Posted: 10 Nov 2015 11:28 PM PST Google announced on Tuesday that Google Maps now allows users to search and navigate the real world in offline mode. Essentially, users can now download an area to their phone or tablet prior to visiting that location and navigate that area without the need for an Internet connection. This should be good news for those getting ready to embark into a rural area or territory where an Internet connection is spotty. "Roughly 60 percent of the world is without Internet today, and even where online access is available, it can still be spotty," said Amanda Bishop, Product Manager," in a blog. "That means that quick and easy access to information is still not possible for a majority of the population. This is a huge problem, especially as people attempt to navigate and explore the world around them." As an example, users can search for a city, county or country. On the resulting card, a "download" option is provided. Alternatively, users can head into "Offline areas" and tap on the "+" button to add an offline location. The information is then downloaded via a Wi-Fi connection (to avoid heavy data fees) and shoved into the offline mode. Bishop says that this information is used when there's shoddy or no connection at all. Google Maps will switch back to online mode and provide info like live traffic conditions when a connection is available. Currently, this feature is rolling out to Android customers in the latest version of Google Maps. However, this new feature will also be offered to Apple iOS customers "soon." Prior to this new update, Google Maps only allowed users to perform small functions in offline mode like zooming and panning a map. But with this new offline availability, users will receive turn-by-turn directions without the need for an Internet connection. As previously stated, users will need to download the map before entering the disconnected area. Google actually previewed this new service during Google I/O back in May, but didn't offer it to customers until now. Presumably because Google updates its maps over time, users shouldn't need to worry about their offline maps going out-of-date. Google Maps will likely update its offline content in the background when there's a Wi-Fi connection detected. |
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