Google Play Books is one of the best Android e-reader and the latest update brings a UI refresh, adds new suggestion experience to find books, and the ability to sync your notes, highlights, and bookmarks to a separate folder in Google Drive.
The new Read Now UI – the pane the app launches to by default – now shows your recent books in a sliding horizontal list instead of a tiled grid. There are also now “Buy” links for any books you have samples of in the read now UI. The Read Now pane also brings a new feature to discover new books you might like. It is accessible from the bottom of the “Read Now” UI if you scroll all the way down. The “Tell us what you like” UI gives you a sampling of various genres of books to choose from, and then provides you (generic, presumably) suggestions based upon what you picked. Most are just samples, so if you select one it will then download a free sample of the book and place it in your library.
Other changes to the app are more subtle like minor changes to the library view, with the navigation bar no longer overflowing into the main content area and adopting some material shadows.
Another new feature is the ability to sync your notes, highlights, and bookmarks to a separate folder in Google Drive. This option is buried in the app’s settings. Once you enable it, Play Books will create a folder in your Google Drive account and fill it with any notes or highlights you make while reading. You can duplicate the notes document and edit it as a regular Google Doc. This can be particularly handy if you are doing research or trying to track a complex story.
Here is the official change log for Google Books v3.5:
- Read Now has a new look
- Turn a page even when it’s zoomed in
- Fit-width option for full-screen horizontal viewing – great for comics
- Files that you upload no longer revert to the default cover
- Stability and performance enhancements
