Skip to main content

Google Play Books for Android v3.4.5 Adds Hints Of Google Drive Sync For Notes, New Font, New Translation Interface

google play booksMost major ebook platforms let readers sync notes and highlights across the devices on their account, but now Google Play Books is going one better.

The latest version of Google Play Books for Android showed up yesterday in Google Play. This wasn’t a major update but it did add a couple features and drop a hint about Google’s future plans.

The app features a new Serif font, Literata. This typeface developed by Type Together. It was commissioned by Google to replace Droid Serif, and as any font nerd can tell you they look nothing alike.

Top: Droid Serif, Bottom: Literata

Top: Droid Serif, Bottom: Literata

Next up, there’s a new translation interface.

GPB used to take up the full screen with the translation menu when you translated a word or phrase in an ebook, and now it displays the translated phrase on a card:

google play books translation interfacew

That is going to prove useful, but not nearly as useful as the new notes feature.

Android Police went digging through the install file for Google Play Books, and they found hints in the code which they say suggests that Google is going to start syncing your notes and highlights to some location in Google Drive.

This code is not active yet, but I agree that it does point to the possibility.

google play books notes drive

Google Play Books already syncs the annotations you make in the personal ebooks you upload; now it looks like Google is going to start storing the notes and highlights in an easily accessible location in the cloud.

And more importantly, an easily sharable location. Getting your notes out of GPB is great in and of itself, but sharing is even more important. Once the notes are in Google Drive, they can be shared with just about anyone. And that is what could be the killer feature here.

Many ebook platforms let you share notes inside the platform, or even share _a_ note on social networks, but Google offers the promise of sharing a complete set (or some subset) of notes from a book.

The possible benefits for collaboration are obvious.

Similar Articles


Comments


John May 7, 2015 um 1:08 pm

Hello!

TypeTogether has published more about Literata Font:
http://www.type-together.com/literata
https://www.flickr.com/photos/typetogether/sets/72157652433541065/

Nate Hoffelder May 7, 2015 um 1:23 pm

Thanks!


How to (Really) Plan for Digital | Digital Book World May 8, 2015 um 8:09 am

[…] Google Play Books Explores Shareable Annotations (Ink, Bits & Pixels) A recent update to the Google Play Books app for Android includes code that suggests the platform may soon support uploading readers’ highlights and annotations to the cloud, where, at least in theory, they could be easily accessed and shared. […]


Google Debuts New Literata Font – Two Weeks Ago | Ink, Bits, & Pixels May 19, 2015 um 11:51 am

[…] There's a story going around today about the new fontface which Google released with the latest update to Google Play Books a couple weeks back. […]


This Font Will let You Know That the NSA Thinks You're a Terrorist | The Digital Reader July 13, 2015 um 1:51 pm

[…] Google, Amazon, OverDrive, and other companies may choose fonts based on how good they are for reading, but not every font is made for that purpose. […]


Google Play Books v3.5 Lets You Sync Your Notes and Bookmarks to Google Drive | The Digital Reader July 20, 2015 um 8:22 am

[…] update to its Android ebook app on Thursday which delivered on new features that Google has been hinting about for the past couple […]


Google Play Books v2.5 for iPad, iPhone Adds Literata Font, Google Drive Integration | The Digital Reader July 21, 2015 um 3:12 pm

[…] to the change log, this update adds the Literata font Google announced back in May and an option for left alignment (ragged right, yay). It also sounds […]


Write a Comment