Play Books experience on Android e-ink readers?

[stangri]

I've been thru my fair share of Windows CE, Sony, Nook and most recently Kindle devices and accumulated a library of DRM-free mostly ePub books.

While I prized the Kindle for the wireless books delivery I have recently discovered the beauty of the Google's Play Books app with coveted wireless delivery and supposed (haven't tried it on more than one device) furthest read sync on multiple devices.

As Amazon's own store is not the biggest source of books for me and looks like everyone but Amazon has switched to ePub, I'm now contemplating an Android-based e-ink reader so that I can read various ePub files with the Google's own Play Books app.

From my research it looks like besides Yota 2, no Android e-ink device has Android newer than KitKat (and some still come with pre-KitKat versions). So I'm wondering if anyone had used the Google Play Books app on their e-ink Android devices and what has experience been like.

[stangri]

Anyone?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by stangri

Anyone?

Sorry, I do use an Android E-ink device (4.0 I think), but I never used Play Books. The advantage of an Android e-ink device is that you can add your prefered reader on it, and Calibre Companion. And that's how I put my books on the device: using Calibre, Calibre Companion and Wifi...

[stangri]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Sorry, I do use an Android E-ink device (4.0 I think), but I never used Play Books. The advantage of an Android e-ink device is that you can add your prefered reader on it, and Calibre Companion. And that's how I put my books on the device: using Calibre, Calibre Companion and Wifi...

Right, that's what I want to use -- Play Books. Mostly because Play Books seamlessly syncs your books and furthest reading points.

[Tikker]

Originally Posted by stangri

Right, that's what I want to use -- Play Books. Mostly because Play Books seamlessly syncs your books and furthest reading points.

a fair number of epub readers do this as well (such as moon, or aldiko, etc)

[stangri]

Originally Posted by Tikker

a fair number of epub readers do this as well (such as moon, or aldiko, etc)

To a point. Not as well as Google's Play Books does (at least the moon which I've checked out). On top of that -- can I continue reading on Mac with moon? Can I upload my books wirelessly with moon? From my brief glance at their web-page the answer to both is no.

Look, I'm glad if other people made the combination of third party readers + google drive or dropbox or whatever work for them, but I find Google Play Books experience the most polished and want to use that, should I decide to ditch my Kindle.

That's why I'm looking for the feedback specifically on Google Play Books.

Thanks!

[Tikker]

Originally Posted by stangri

To a point. Not as well as Google's Play Books does (at least the moon which I've checked out). On top of that -- can I continue reading on Mac with moon? Can I upload my books wirelessly with moon? From my brief glance at their web-page the answer to both is no.

um, of course you can upload books wirelessly with moon. you can do it within moon, or sideload, or use dropbox, or whatever.

this requirement to run on a mac is new tho. if you've got limitations, you need to spell them out right away

playbooks was basically built for android, so I'm not really sure what your asking anymore


you don't want any other solutions, yet you created the poll that asked for other options.....smh

[stangri]

Originally Posted by Tikker

um, of course you can upload books wirelessly with moon. you can do it within moon, or sideload, or use dropbox, or whatever.

Does moon run on a desktop computer? Please describe how can I wirelessly upload the book from my computer to the moon read on Android e-ink device "thru moon"?

I don't want to "use dropbox, or whatever", I want the same seamless uploading experience I get with Play Books.

Originally Posted by Tikker

this requirement to run on a mac is new tho. if you've got limitations, you need to spell them out right away

No, I haven't got limitations, looks like moon "got limitations" . As for more specifically spelled out use case -- I want wireless upload (from a computer) and wireless sync; both without having to resort to the third-party cloud storage solutions.

Originally Posted by Tikker

playbooks was basically built for android, so I'm not really sure what your asking anymore

Uhm, no, Play Books was basically a website before an android app became what it is today. Now it's a website where you can buy and/or upload your own books accompanied by an android app, with its own seamless sync and unified login.

Originally Posted by Tikker

you don't want any other solutions, yet you created the poll that asked for other options.....smh

Poll doesn't ask for other options, it asks if there are any. I'm definitely open to other solutions, however I sincerely doubt that any other company/individual would have the power to match what Google has produced. Not because it's something no one else can do, but because it would cost money and without the revenue stream from selling books (and other Google products), I don't think it can be achieved just as good.

I'm sure there're ways to jerry-rig something resembling Play Books (with dropbox or whatever), but I'm not invested in a legacy jerry-rigged solution and I like what Play Books (a combination of the web-site, android app, unified login, storage infrastructure) has to offer.

I'm surprised Play Books hasn't caught on here yet (as evident by lack of replies on experience using it). I'd value what it brings way more than what it lacks.

[Tikker]

you want playbooks, and only playbooks, we get it

just use it then

[stangri]

Originally Posted by stangri

I'm definitely open to other solutions...

Originally Posted by Tikker

you want playbooks, and only playbooks, we get it

just use it then

I wonder how you arrived to that conclusion.

Unless there's a better solution (and it doesn't look like there's one, does it now?), yes, I want Play Books. That's why I'm soliciting feedback on wherever it works. Just like I said in OP -- I don't have an Android e-ink device to try.

[kacir]

I have a few e-ink readers with Android, ranging from Android 2.3 (InkPhone) through 4.xy to 5.0 (YotaPhone).

I have never felt the need to use PlayBooks.
There are some features that are more important to me - configurability of the app, usability without physical buttons (not all e-ink readers have Back, Home, Menu buttons) AND the ability to adjust the frontlight below some arbitrary level without darkening the background with black. You see, most LCD screens can dial down the back-light only to a certain level and then the app starts using darker and darker background to turn the light further down on such screen. When the app (my beloved CoolReader) starts doing that on e-ink screen the results are disastrous. And for me light at 20% is way too much under any lighting conditions.

At the moment my favorite app is AlReader. But my priorities and my use case are very obviously different from yours.

There are quite a few e-book reading apps that you can use that can sync the position through Dropbox or other servers. The process is supposed to be seamless - I have never tried it personally.

Also have a look at OPDS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPDS
Calibre can be OPDS client and there is plugin for creating OPDS server from Calibre contents.
Some of better e-book reading apps can connect to the OPDS servers to download books seamlessly.

I personally tag a bunch of books for export in my Calibre database and then to export them in a hierarchical directories and upload the directories to my device[s] (Not all my devices are on Android). Then I use tags to select the books again and I use "Create Catalog" function in Calibre so I can upload that to the device and I can browse through my eclectic collection when I want to read something different.
When I find a book that jumps to the top of my "To Be Read" pile I start an ftp server on my Android device, copy book from PC and switch off the ftp server 30 seconds later. No cable necessary. I could also start Calibre server and download the book from the phone using browser or the free version of Calibre Companion (number of books is limited) for the purpose of copying one "To Be Read Immediately" book without cable.

Other people like to use Calibre Companion app on their Android devices and run Calibre server on their home PC. There are quite a few people that have static IP at home and run Calibre server on their home computer accessible on the Internet (as long as you know the IP address and port number).

Yet another bunch of people run Calibre server on their home PC and access it through a browser from their devices.

Some people run OPDS server at home or use one of numerous OPDS servers around the world - this is the closest to your Google Play books infrastructure.

Please notice I haven't mentioned using DropBox or other on-line file service to host books ;-)

[Tikker]

Originally Posted by stangri

I'm surprised Play Books hasn't caught on here yet

it's because there are much better options for how most folks are reading and syncing their books


now, if a particular user needs windows, MAC, android and iOS integration, you're pretty limited, and playbooks does work for that


if that's your user case, then great, playbooks works just fine

but you originally asked specifically about playbooks on an android (e-ink specifically) and whether or not there were better options


and there are probably a dozen that are better in that scenario

[kacir]

I miss an option in the pool:
- I have Android device and I have never bothered to install (or even start, in case it came pre-installed ) Google Play Books

[Dopedangel]

As far as I can tell it works on my T68 Boyue reader. I just installed it to check for the OP the page turn button and sync etc work. But a regular user might find problems which I didn't find in 10 min of use.
I don't use it as it is not configurable enough when it comes to the look of the text etc. And anyway the page sync requires the wifi to be on which I turn on only when I want to connect calibre companion to calibre.

[Geenween]

On my Energy Reader Pro+ (Boyue T62+) the app doesn't work well: after a few turn pages the margins get shifted and the next page starts appearing on the left side of the screen.