Google Play Books Gets Maps Integration Plus Cloud Annotation

Google has updated its ereading app, Google Play Books, with integration with Google Maps, along with translation support, and annotation tools. The new version of the Android software now allows readers to tap locations within the text, and see a pop-up info card powered by Google Maps, along with links to more information from Google or Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, there's still dictionary support, with tapping on a word bringing up a definition. Translation tools can convert foreign texts into your native language on the fly, though only on a per-paragraph basis rather than of the whole book in its entirety.

As for highlighting, that's done pretty much as we've seen it on other ereading apps, with draggable brackets to select a section and then a choice of colors for the highlight itself. It's also possible to append notes and reminders to those sections, and Google will push out any highlights or annotations to all linked devices.

Finally, there's a sepia color theme, 2D sliding page-turn animations, and support for reading Japanese texts in a vertical, left-to-right layout, flipping the pages from right to left too. You can download Google Play Books from from the Play Store.