Google has a lineup of new products and features to roll out soon. For one, audiobook lovers will be pleased to receive new features for Google Play Books playback.
This week saw several new announcements from the search company such as the first Chrome OS tablet and mobile-first indexing. Users who have integrated their technology needs with the company's various platforms will be happy to know that improvements appear to be on the agenda.
If only its Android ecosystem can eventually get timely updates across devices at the same time, it would take away Apple's biggest advantage over the operating system.
Smart Resume
These days, consumers rely entirely on their smartphones for their communication needs. It is understandable that individuals use their devices for SMS, social media, chat applications, and calls.
Now, imagine if the user is in the middle of a chapter of an audiobook and gets interrupted. Chances are, audio playback immediately pauses immediately, which is ok if it is in between words or sentences.
However, there are instances wherein listeners lose track of story since the alert or interruption happened mid-word or mid-phrase. The Smart Resume function rewinds the track intelligently to the beginning of the sentence or the word to keep the story going.
Limited Sharing
Google Play Books also gets a new sharing feature called Family Library. It permits users to provide access for up to five people for free. The option might be limited to certain titles, but it should allow the other users to listen to audiobooks or read ebooks the owner shared on iOS, Android, and the web.
The company enabled the feature (audiobooks only) for 13 more countries such as Italy, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Germany, Chile, Switzerland, Netherlands, Mexico, Norway, and Japan.
Bookmarks, Speed Control And Google Assistant Support
The latest update gives listeners more options on how they approach their audiobook experience. Bookmarks let users mark several parts of the story and revisit them quickly. The pace can be set via the new controls to listen to three times the speed or as slow as 0.5 times the default.
Finally, Routines feature in Google AAssistant allows a hands-free experience for users who want the digital assistant take care of everything.
Value For Its Users
Experts believe that improvements to Google Play Books are just one of Google's planned features for its various platforms. Other apps that are regularly used by consumers could also be getting upgrades in the near future.
