Google Maps is a great digital map to have on the go. But when you are abroad, or at a place without a proper coverage, you are toast. Google already promised us offline maps on Android but how would you like to know that you can get offline maps easily right this very moment?

The Labs section of Google Maps has several interesting experimental features and one of them allows you to cache maps on your Android device. It’s called Pre-cache map area and works just as the title suggests.

Now this is not a new feature by all means but I get asked about this a lot so consider this post as a quick HOW-TO, rather than a news post. If you haven’t been tinkering a lot with Google Maps on your Android smartphone you might have missed this. Read more »

Microsoft officially pulled the curtain on Windows Phone 8 at yesterday’s Windows Phone Summit and we see promise of exciting times for the industry.

While it’s temptingly easy to pass verdicts before we’ve actually seen any real WP8-rocking hardware, here go a few of my thoughts on the announcements. Read more »

At the Windows Phone Summit which ended just moments ago, Microsoft announced the WP Marketplace has now crossed the 100,000 apps mark.

And if you thought that it’s all about quality rather than quantity than we still have good news for you. The company announced that the popular mobile titles NOVA 3 and Asphalt 7 will also be making its way to the latest edition of the platform – Windows Phone 8. Read more »

Android users based in Europe will finally get access to Amazon’s Appstore. The company announced today its expansion plans for the old continent and while they are not massive, it’s a decent start.

The Amazon Appstore will launch in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom this summer. Developers are also encouraged to start certifying their apps for distribution in those countries. Read more »

Nuance, the company that acquired Swype last year, has launched a new beta version of the popular text input method.

The new Swype Beta for Android features a 4-in-1 keyboard and now supports voice as well as touch inputs . You can now draw letters one by one or just tap it, like on classic keyboard. The Dragon voice engine takes care of voice inputs. Read more »

Flipboard, the social and news aggregation app, is set to receive Google+ integration as Google announced a new partnership with its developer. The deal includes the launch of a new API specially formulated to write content for Flipboard.

Soon, Flipboard will be able to show your Google+ stream alongside your Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as news and RSS feeds. Read more »

Dolphin has released a new version of its popular Dolphin Browser HD for Android. The browser, currently in beta state and available only from the official website, uses a new version of the Dolphin Engine, which it claims makes it the highest performing HTML5 browser available today, not just on mobile but on any platform.

Its main claim to fame is the absurdly high HTML5 test score, where it scores an astounding 450 points (plus 3 bonus points), more than any other browser that is currently available, including those on desktop. Dolphin says it has paid special attention to canvas elements, 2D context and text rendering and that the Dolphin Engine made significant GPU technology improvements around GPU accelerated canvas rendering and optimized CPU / GPU parallel computing. Read more »

The Google I/O developer conference is starting next week and just like last year Google has released an app for Android that would allow visitors to find their way around the conference and know what’s happening at what time.

The following are some of the things you can do with the Google I/O 2012 app: Read more »

Anyone who has used a .zip file manager before has heard of WinZip and has used it too.

Well if you want to relive some of that nostalgia anew and you own an Android-powered device you can – the app is available for free in the Google Play store. Read more »

VideoLAN today announced via its Twitter account that it’ll be officially launching the VLC Media Player on Android.

Don’t get too excited however, as the tweet didn’t give any specifics whatsoever. There’s no release date, no requirements or even a feature list we might be looking forward to. Read more »

Today Facebook officially announced that it has sealed the deal for acquiring the face-recognition software company Face.com for an undisclosed sum. A move that’s hardly surprising as we’ve been hearing about it for a while now.

The deal is expected to go through in the coming weeks. There’s no telling what Facebook’s plans about Face.com are, but the company’s services are already widely used around the world’s largest social network. Read more »

Mozilla are always toying with new designs for a web browser – their latest effort is called ‘Junior’ and is a browser prototype for the iPad with a design that’s a clean break from the standard Safari browser.

Mozilla created Junior because even though, according to them, the iPad offers the best browsing experience on a tablet, it’s still “miserable”. Read more »

Dropbox has launched an update to its iOS application and now supports automatic video and photo uploads.

Just like the company did when they first introduced the feature on Android, to motivate users to use the new service, Dropbox will match every uploaded megabyte with a megabyte of free cloud storage up to a total 3GB (in increments of 500MB). Read more »

Amazon has finally released its Cloud Player app to iOS. Right now only the iPhone and iPod Touch units running version 4.3 or later of the platform are supported.

The app provides an alternative to users, who don’t feel happy about iTunes’ DRM policy on songs and makes it possible to play the tracks from the Cloud Drive. Read more »

It appears that we are not done with the Apple-related Facebook news, as the company just released an update for the iOS version of its camera app.

The first change you are going to notice after you apply the version 1.0.2. update is the Facebook Camera app has been given a new screen name – Camera•. Read more »