J
Jeff Causey
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Google has announced an update to the Google Play Books app that may be especially welcomed by users who access non-fiction books. While fiction readers will almost always read a title straight through, unless they are possibly working on a report or something, users of non-fiction books frequently find themselves needing to skip around from one section to another. The odds of this increase as a title moves closer to being something like a reference book. The update to Play Books will help this users who need to access information in a title in a non-linear fashion.
According to Google’s Android team, one new feature is a new table of contents view. Using this view, users can skip straight to the chapter or section that is of particular interest to them. If a user may not know exactly which section they need to look up, they can instead use a new Skim Mode to quickly browse and entire book to figure out what is in each section. Once a user finds something they are looking for, they can quickly Bookmark that spot to return to it with only a couple taps. Google also points out that the new Skim Mode may be especially helpful for students as highlighted text and notes can be accessed using that mode, making it easy to return to those sections.
The updated app will still include features that users have found useful in the past. These include the ability to access Geo Card information to launch Google Maps, Wikipedia or Web Search based on location names included in the text; a quick dictionary lookup by tapping and pressing on a word; highlighting text, taking notes and translating words; and keeping devices synchronized as you read.
Google is in the middle of a rather large, phased rollout of several of their apps, especially those connected to Google Play. You can head over to the Play Store to see if the update is ready for your device.
source: Android Official Blog
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