MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - sync epub bookmarks, mac<->iphone

sumguy · 05-20-2013, 09:43 AM

Busy week... another update, the latest version of Google Play Books now supports uploading your own non-DRM e-pubs. They will sync between the iOS app and the Google Play web-reader. It's not perfect, but it's a big step forward in my quest!

Advantages:
- last-page-position (not furthest-page-read), highlights, and annotations will sync quickly both ways between the iOS app and the Google Play online web reader app, even with your own non-DRM epubs that you upload!
- text can be copied/pasted from the web reader into a document, useful for people doing research/writing. That might seem obvious, but for example the international version of the Kindle desktop reader does not allow copying text.
- books can be read on iOS even if you're offline, eg. in Airplane Mode. Highlights and notes can still be accessed and added offline, and will be synced along with reading position the next time you go online.

Disadvantages:
- you must be online to use the web reader on the computer. There is an app you can install in the Google Chrome web browser that lets you make your books available offline, but then you're not able to see your highlights and notes, nor add new ones. Also, when you go online again with the Chrome app, highlights and notes sync both ways with the iOS app, but there seems to be a bug with the reading position, which only syncs one-way. So for the most part you'd want to avoid the Chrome app and use the web reader, which does sync reading position in both directions.
- the web reader (and Chrome app) doesn't support searching your uploaded books. WTF, this is Google?? Fortunately, the iOS app does...
- the text in the iOS app is quite ugly, because it's center justified, and doesn't support hyphenation, so you often get giant gaps between words. They could at least give an option for left-justified text. Also the font sizes tend to skip between tiny and huge, but you can sometimes compensate by selecing a different font.
- there's no support for organizing your books into collections or folders.
- I don't see a straightforward way of syncing highlights and notes to an e-ink reader - maybe a Nook running Android or something? I don't know much about that.
- covers for your uploaded books are blank in the iOS app.
- I don't see a way to back up or transfer your highlights and notes.

05-20-2013, 09:43 AM	#32
sumguy Connoisseur Posts: 57 Karma: 1186 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: none	Busy week... another update, the latest version of Google Play Books now supports uploading your own non-DRM e-pubs. They will sync between the iOS app and the Google Play web-reader. It's not perfect, but it's a big step forward in my quest! Advantages: - last-page-position (not furthest-page-read), highlights, and annotations will sync quickly both ways between the iOS app and the Google Play online web reader app, even with your own non-DRM epubs that you upload! - text can be copied/pasted from the web reader into a document, useful for people doing research/writing. That might seem obvious, but for example the international version of the Kindle desktop reader does not allow copying text. - books can be read on iOS even if you're offline, eg. in Airplane Mode. Highlights and notes can still be accessed and added offline, and will be synced along with reading position the next time you go online. Disadvantages: - you must be online to use the web reader on the computer. There is an app you can install in the Google Chrome web browser that lets you make your books available offline, but then you're not able to see your highlights and notes, nor add new ones. Also, when you go online again with the Chrome app, highlights and notes sync both ways with the iOS app, but there seems to be a bug with the reading position, which only syncs one-way. So for the most part you'd want to avoid the Chrome app and use the web reader, which does sync reading position in both directions. - the web reader (and Chrome app) doesn't support searching your uploaded books. WTF, this is Google?? Fortunately, the iOS app does... - the text in the iOS app is quite ugly, because it's center justified, and doesn't support hyphenation, so you often get giant gaps between words. They could at least give an option for left-justified text. Also the font sizes tend to skip between tiny and huge, but you can sometimes compensate by selecing a different font. - there's no support for organizing your books into collections or folders. - I don't see a straightforward way of syncing highlights and notes to an e-ink reader - maybe a Nook running Android or something? I don't know much about that. - covers for your uploaded books are blank in the iOS app. - I don't see a way to back up or transfer your highlights and notes.