Added Languages on Google Mobile Apps

Let’s go for some news this time. Google has just announced new languages releases for a handful of applications meant for use with mobile phones. Now you can bring your Google stuff anywhere. There are new French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Chinese, and Turkish versions of Google mobile applications. It’s not that these are all new, but a mighty few are big updates over their older versions. After all, with everything going mobile these days, shouldn’t you be enjoying the ability to go out and still be able to access your favorite Google apps?

Here’s what’s new, and some basic usage information for a couple of the more interesting applications.

Google Maps Mobile

This is probably the most exciting part among Google mobile offerings, because mobile and maps mix well. Imagine being lost in an unknown part of the city, or (God forbid!) in the middle of rural nowhere. Just whip out your mobile (as long as there’s signal!) and key in http://www.google.com/gmm on your browser, and you can now access the mobile version of Google Maps.

The functionality is a bit more limited than the full Web version. But the interface has been optimized for use on a mobile, and for the mobile person. Some convenient functions:

• Directions – You can key in a street address or a landmark, and Google Maps will tell you how to get there.
• Find a business – This lets you type in the name of a business or establishment, and Google Maps Mobile would point you to the street location, or even the directions, if available.

What’s great is that you get the same scrolling and zooming abilities as with the regular Web version of Google maps.

Gmail Mobile

Gmail mobile is accessible at m.gmail.com. This mobile interface lets you do pretty much anything you can do on Gmail over a regular Web interface. You still get to view your email by conversation (instead of by message), as with Web-based Gmail. You can also view image, PDF and document attachments.

What you need:

To access Google Mobile applications, you would need a Web-enabled mobile phone, preferably with Java support (a list of supported phones here), and a data-enabled subscription plan.