Yesterday, Engadget got some hands-on time with the brand new HTC Sense upgrade that will debut on the Desire HD and the Desire Z. It will support all kinds of crazy stuff we've been waiting for like remote wiping, phone location, and backing up to and restoring data from HTCSense.com. Another cool feature is map pre-caching, which means that the phone will have pre-loaded maps on it.

The end result is a much more responsive map experience, allowing you to zoom in and out and pan around with "no waiting". It also means that you don’t need a data connection to get around, a notable foible of the otherwise excellent Google Maps.

That “no waiting” is in quotes because, from the looks of Engadget's video, it still doesn't look terribly smooth. Also, it appears that looking at the maps and panning around will be free but they will charge for services such as navigation (which I am not cool with). It's definitely an attractive feature in theory, and you should hit the link below and check the video out.

Source: Engadget