Google Play Books – Probably the Best ePub or PDF reader for Android Now

Google I/O 2013 may not have impressed many but I really like how cohesive the design and functionality of the new apps coming from Google, like the new Books and Music App are integrated with the cloud and the overall app design. Now, Play Books supports your personal PDF and EPUB files, which can be uploaded through the online library.

Prior to this, only Google own book store was supported, which limited the selection quite a fair bit and prevent access to other material that you may own. For comparison, Amazon’s Kindle service has long supported uploaded content, but it relies on awkward email attachments. Uploading is done through the web application, link here. The section for uploaded books can be found in the drop down under My Books in the app. So get to it and make use of those mountains of (legally obtained) EPUBs you have sitting around.

Google says that users will be able to store up to 1,000 files for free, as long as they are under 50MB.

Once uploaded, books will be available via the web, on Android smartphones and tablets, and the iPhone and iPad — page positions, bookmarks, and notes will be synced between each of those devices. With these features, Google’s Book apps now have an edge over Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iBooks apps — which currently don’t sync sideloaded titles between ebook libraries. I also can’t think of any other app with a similar cloud sync feature.

Google Books work great for me for ePUB files, but PDF files seem to open with some lag, especially when scrolling pages quickly. But, it is still a viable option, and I would consider using it more frequently over Repligo Reader.