Anyone using Google Play:Books for Epubs?

[GlenBarrington]

I have found that I much prefer Google Play:Books for reading ePub format books over Moon Reader Pro on my Lenovo Tablet and Samsung G5 Smartphone. I started looking about because, Moon Reader has gotten kind of sluggish on both my tablet and smartphone. Page turns are obnoxiously slow any more.

It offers a very "Kindle" like experience but with the added benefit of making it a bit easier to read titles not purchased from Google, and with a bit more easy control reading third party published books on Kindle. I just upload the epubs to Google Drive from Calibre, click on the ePub, and tell it to open in Google Play:Books.

It has made me rethink my excessive reliance on Amazon Kindle and has made ePubs a more pleasant experience overall.

About the only thing i'm likely to use Moon reader pro for any more is when I want to read with scrolling. At times, turning pages can be VERY oppressive!

[DiapDealer]

I'm not really married to any one ecosystem or reading app. I primarily buy ebooks from Kobo, Amazon, and Google; and read with Bookari Premium, the Kindle app and Google Play Books (all on Android).

[sakura-panda]

I like to use Google Play because it plays nicely with all of my devices.

I have not found an Android or a Windows epub reader that I like as well as the Google Play one and I especially like that I can sync the book with any of my devices. (It is the only app I've found so far that can do that. Both the Kindle and Kobo apps are unreliable when I try to sync my furthest read page, but Google Play always goes to the right spot.)

[SteveK]

I agree that the app does sync very nicely across sevral devices. It's my favorite reading app, I just wish it could be used on a regular reader! Having to upload/download books is a bit inconvenient, but it's usually fairly quick.

Speaking of uploading books, many of the books I've uploaded lately do not show the cover, but some covers do display correctly. It's not a problem in the library mode as titles are shown under the cover, but it is a problem in the default mode since no titles are shown, and the generic gray covers are identical. Any idea why many covers don't show?

Other than this quirk, I am very satisfied with Google Play Books.

SteveK

[taosaur]

When I was reading on a tablet and a phone, I liked Google Play Books for the syncing and the server-assisted text-to-speech. At the time, you had to enable "high quality TTS" or some such in the settings.

These days, I'm pretty married to my KPW for reading. My last tablet seems to have gone to the big bedside stand in the sky, and it's probably not getting replaced. I would still like a good comic reader, but current technology just doesn't fit the bill. Full color e-ink would be amazing, but I don't see any great push for it any time this decade.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by taosaur

My last tablet seems to have gone to the big bedside stand in the sky, and it's probably not getting replaced. I would still like a good comic reader, but current technology just doesn't fit the bill.

What's missing from current technology?

Like you, I use an e-ink device to read books, but I'm very happy with my tablet as a comic reader. I don't really do too much else with the tablet other than read comics. But for that purpose, I do appreciate it.

I'm just curious about what improvements you'd like to see. Maybe some alternate app would do what you want. Or is there something about the hardware itself you dislike?

[graycyn]

I'm quite fond of the Google Play Books app. It's very pleasant for reading, my home-made epubs look great in it. I don't read often on my tablets, but when I do, I'm turning to Play Books more often now than Bookari my previous favorite Android reader.

I like the night light that goes more orange towards the end of the day, a big help for my eyes!

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

[Rbneader]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

What's missing from current technology?

Like you, I use an e-ink device to read books, but I'm very happy with my tablet as a comic reader. I don't really do too much else with the tablet other than read comics. But for that purpose, I do appreciate it.

I'm just curious about what improvements you'd like to see. Maybe some alternate app would do what you want. Or is there something about the hardware itself you dislike?

For me, I'd really like an eInk comic reader. I genuinely don't like reading on tablets, and I read manga usually so I don't need a color screen.

[Alohamora]

Because of this thread, I gave play books a try. It looks pretty good, but, I'm disappointed that high quality TTS needs an internet connection. On my fire phone or tablet, I could use the Kindle app for TTS, but for some reason that's not included in the android app.

It looks like I'll have to use Moon reader pro for epubs, just have to figure out how to get TTS voices installed.
I like moon reader well enough, I don't really see much that Play does better than Moon anyway.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by Alohamora

Because of this thread, I gave play books a try. It looks pretty good, but, I'm disappointed that high quality TTS needs an internet connection. On my fire phone or tablet, I could use the Kindle app for TTS, but for some reason that's not included in the android app.

It looks like I'll have to use Moon reader pro for epubs, just have to figure out how to get TTS voices installed.
I like moon reader well enough, I don't really see much that Play does better than Moon anyway.

You haven't found Moon to be kind of slow? That's why I started looking for a replacement. Page turns took FOREVER!

[Alohamora]

No, it's not slow at all. Do you have page flip animation turned on? With that set to 'none' page change is instant.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

What's missing from current technology?

Like you, I use an e-ink device to read books, but I'm very happy with my tablet as a comic reader. I don't really do too much else with the tablet other than read comics. But for that purpose, I do appreciate it.

I'm just curious about what improvements you'd like to see. Maybe some alternate app would do what you want. Or is there something about the hardware itself you dislike?

Basically I would like to see a dedicated reader for full color publications: at least letter size, not absurdly heavy, preferably not backlit, and at least a dozen hours of actual use between charges. So, color eInk. I've read plenty of comics on tablets, but it's definitely a less-than experience. Please, no scrolling, minimal zooming, certainly no reliance on "panel view," but of course some accommodation for two page spreads. If I'm really dreaming, have it open like a comic and show two full size pages at a time.

A tablet was more or less good enough when I had a tablet handy most of the time anyway, as my primary reading and browsing device, but that hasn't been the case for years.

For a long time, I've been more likely to turn to my PC (24" IPS monitor on a highly articulated arm mount, and a variety of input devices and seating arrangements, so not totally un-ergonomic) than a tablet for comics. If I'm not home, I'm more likely to go with an ebook or audiobook.

Originally Posted by Rbneader

For me, I'd really like an eInk comic reader. I genuinely don't like reading on tablets, and I read manga usually so I don't need a color screen.

For manga, there are several medium-to-large, high resolution eInk devices that work fine. I'm pretty sure Calibre can handle the conversions to epub or azw/mobi if you have other file formats.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by taosaur

Basically I would like to see a dedicated reader for full color publications: at least letter size, not absurdly heavy, preferably not backlit, and at least a dozen hours of actual use between charges. So, color eInk.

That does sound nice. The color e-ink I've seen so far looks washed out. The color on a tablet (with a good screen) pops and looks very nice. But I wouldn't mind seeing a large, color e-ink reader.

Originally Posted by taosaur

I've read plenty of comics on tablets, but it's definitely a less-than experience. Please, no scrolling, minimal zooming, certainly no reliance on "panel view," but of course some accommodation for two page spreads. If I'm really dreaming, have it open like a comic and show two full size pages at a time.

What reader did you use?

I don't use panel view, ever. But Perfect Viewer, Comicrack and Challenger (all on Android) can trim the white page border around the panels leaving a page that is about the same size (or slightly larger) than a physical comic page. They can also be set to auto rotate two page spreads or even show two pages at all times. Though two pages in landscape mode on a 10" tablet is pretty small.

I have been eying that Samsung 12.2" tablet for years.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Rbneader

For me, I'd really like an eInk comic reader. I genuinely don't like reading on tablets, and I read manga usually so I don't need a color screen.

Sounds like you need the Kindle, Manga Edition: Amazon Japan's manga-ready Kindle has 8 times the storage

[Rbneader]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Sounds like you need the Kindle, Manga Edition: Amazon Japan's manga-ready Kindle has 8 times the storage

32 GB of storage? Good try, but still no cigar when there's no microSD slot. My book collection breaks 32 GB easily.

From the press release, it looks like they're relying on feature of Amazon-purchased files? Plus Kindle support for PDF is not great, and this device doesn't even list it as a feature. So compatibility with my current library is poor to non-existent, plus vendor lock-in.

Also, having to deal with a Japan-only product is a hassle.

This is better but not there yet. Would need better software support for multiple formats and expandable storage, with a bonus of a bigger screen. Then I'd be all over it.

What I find really interesting is the reported increase in page turn speed! It looks like Amazon has delivered updated firmware to all devices to make page-turning faster, but the other devices are still slower than this one? I wonder if this is the first IMX7 ereader to market.