Interesting to watch tech innovation be stifled by telecom inefficiencies. Great move by Google to adapt to that reality.
Latest example I had while I was travelling - the AirBnb "app" couldn't show me my accommodation details without internet access. Really, what's the point of the app then if you can't cache the data locally?
Browser caches should also be less aggressive about getting fresh data too. Caching is hard, but not everybody stays in one place with access to the internet until later. Do I have to continue printing on paper? Most web apps and pages don't pay enough attention to those cache headers.
I used Maps.me while in Europe and it worked well except for the occasional crash, and the offline routing was very welcome for navigating the cities.
A travel app that doesn't work off line? Never doing that again.