Google Gears for iPhone

[Wes]

I believe that Google could make a great Google Gears iPhone app. This
approach to bringing Google Gears to the iPhone would be the best
approach because Safari does not include a plugin installer and will
not load a page at all without an Internet connection. However, a
Google Gears app would work very well. Users could type in the URL of
a Google Gears enabled web app and the Google Gears app would install
that app to the Google Gears app and add it to a list of installed
apps. The app could then function like a normal standard/mobile web
app. If API's were added for it, Google Gears apps could even take
advantage of iPhone OS features (push notification, geo-location,
multi-touch controls, etc.). This soul make a Google Gears app for
iPhone a very useful app that many people would like. What would make
it even better was if it could be integrated with the Google Mobile
app (possibly as a single app?).

[Zbój]

Safari Mobile implements parts of HTML5 - application cache, local
storage etc. The geolocation API is supported too (in firmware 3.0+).
There's no need for Gears.

[Eduard Martini]

Yes, it is need of gears for sites that are already coded to work with
gears. It is a pain to code a site feature in 10 languages with 10
api's just because every single browser implemented something else.

[Wes]

What about if I want to use an app when I don't have access to the
internet? If I don't have an internet connection, Safari Mobile will
not load the page, even if it might have a cached version on hand. If
I load a web app on one tab and then use some other tabs for a while,
Safari Mobile will automatically reload the first tab when I switch
back to it even if I just want to keep viewing the same page. I guess
the issue here is being able to look at a page, or open a page,
without an internet connection, and being able to look at a cached
version, or better yet, still use the web app while I wait for my
internet connection to return so it can sync with the web. Because
Google Gears allows me to view and use a web app without an internet
connection, and then re-sync with the web when I regain my internet
connection, while Safari Mobile does not, I think the best solution
would be to either create a separate iPhone App for this which
supports the *full complement* of Google Gears features (or at least,
as many as possible for a mobile device) plus whatever iPhone specific
features may be available, or to have Apple add *full* Google Gears
support to Safari Mobile.

> > app (possibly as a single app?).- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Zbój]

There are cross-framework libraries developers can use.

[Zbój]

Safari Mobile has the HTML5 application cache. Web developers can
easily develop offline web apps for both Android and iPhone (2.1+).

[Wes]

The Apple web apps will work offline only if you first load them while
you are online. If I don't have an internet connection I can't load
them. With Google Gears, I would be able to load and access a web app
without an internet connection, even if I couldn't use the features
that require an internet connection (like syncing with the server to
retrieve new data or backup data). So Google Gears is still the option
of choice.

> > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Tac Tacelosky]

"With Google Gears, I would be able to load and access a web app
without an internet connection"

How?  Things like the database are domain-specific, I'm trying to imagine what the mechanism, on an iphone or on a regular computer, would be to load a web app while offline?

[Wes]

Unlike Safari Mobile, the Google Gears cache will store offline copies
of pages that can be accessed when the user does not have an Internet
connection. Safari Mobile will cache the page, but it will not let you
load it wihout an internet connection even if there is a cached copy.
With Google Gears, the only need for an internet connection would be
updates and features that require communication with a server on the
web. For example, using Gmail with Gears would allow me to view and
manage my email offline, but would need an internet connection for
committing changes to the server and sending/receiving new email.

On Sep 12, 6:13 pm, Tac Tacelosky <tac...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "With Google Gears, I would be able to load and access a web app
> without an internet connection"
> How?  Things like the database are domain-specific, I'm trying to imagine
> what the mechanism, on an iphone or on a regular computer, would be to load
> a web app while offline?
>

[Tac Tacelosky]

Right, but  you still have to "install" the application while online, even if installation is simply visiting a web page and clicking on the appropriate links to allow for offline access.  You can't do the entire thing offline, like a regular app, where you could distribute it on a thumb drive or CD, allow users to run the application entirely offline, optionally connecting and syncing later.

The Safari mechanism, though, is maddening.  My application is basically a database, after installation, I want it to load quickly and skip the connection to the internet unless the user requests it or a background check indicates that an update is needed, and gears does this properly.  In order to get a Safari-based app to load quickly, you have to turn off the Internet connection!  

I'd be thrilled if Gears were available for the iPhone.  It does pretty much exactly what I want, and for a no-cost app, it would skip the Apple store and approval process.  We can only hope.

Tac

[Zbój]

Wrong, Safari Mobile lets you access pages offline if the site
provides a cache manifest. The only difference is the format of the
manifest.