First Major Google Books Update Tries To Close The Gap With Landscape Support And More
April 6, 2011
Since its launch back in December 2010, the Google Books for iOS app hasn't received high marks from blogs and news sites or the iOS community as a whole. Despite the reading content being there, the app had little to offer compared to the competition. Yesterday, Google added landscape support and a couple of other features hoping to convince more users to switch to their app.
Google released the Google Books for iOS app back in December 2010 expecting to compete against Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iBooks apps. The huge selection of Google Books and the Google eBookstore, at least compared to Apple's iBookstore, made the idea of an official Google eBook reader app a promising alternative. However, Google's lackluster effort of providing a decent feature set made most users pass on the switch.
The release of Google Books for iOS v1.1.0.2247 doesn't turn things completely around, but it may persuade some users to give the app another chance. Primarily, Google Books v1.1 adds the ability to read two pages in landscape mode when used on an iPad, plus speed and reliability improvements.
• Overall application speed improved
• Better Google eBooks downloading experience
• Better experience on iPad with 3G but no cellular data plan
It's nothing of a game changer, but Google has added a 3-D page turning effect when the app is being used on an iPad running iOS 4.3 or later. Furthermore, the "Find" feature now shows matches as you scroll down the page, Google eBookstore sign-in is now automatic, the magnifier has been removed, and added a clear alert message to signify lack of a network connection.
Google Books is a universal app compatible with iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or later, and available as a free download in the App Store.
