13. Reading and Managing Books and Magazines
Find out how to purchase books and magazines using the preinstalled Play Books and Play Newsstand apps and how to read them on your Galaxy Tab 4. Topics in this chapter include:
Adding bookmarks, highlights, and notes
Organizing your books and magazines
Finding other book and magazine readers in the Play Store
Your Galaxy Tab 4 offers a great outlet for you to enjoy books and magazines. The Play Books app that is installed on your Tab 4 offers a stylish e-reader that enables you to browse, purchase, download, and read e-books on your device. The Tab 4 also includes the preinstalled Play Newsstand app so you can read the latest magazines on your device.
Both the Play Books and Play Newsstand apps enable you to enhance your reading experience by offering reading aids such as the ability to increase font size and change background color. If you prefer a different e-reader, you can shop Google Play for other apps and then download and add books from other sources. Consider trying out a few of the available readers to see which one you like the best.
Using Google Play Books
When you open the Play Books app, you can start shopping for books in the Google Play Store right away. Books are available for purchase or available for free, and after you download (and purchase, if necessary) a book you can read it within the Play Books app. You can also use built-in reading aids such as changing how the page appears on the screen.
Browse the Catalog
1. Tap the Apps icon on the Home page.
2. Tap Play Books.
3. Tap Shop to begin shopping for books.
4. Swipe up and down the screen to view recommendations and books in various categories. View more books in a category by tapping More.
5. Tap New Releases in Fiction to view the newest fiction books.
6. Swipe from right to left within the menu bar to view books in the New Arrivals in Nonfiction, Top Selling, and Top Free sections.
7. View a list of book categories by swiping from left to right on the menu bar and then tapping Categories.
8. Swipe up and down in the list to view all categories; tap a category in the list to view featured books within the category.
9. View the entire list of featured books by swiping up and down the screen.
10. Tap New Releases to view all the latest books Google has added in the category you’re viewing.
11. Open a book in a subcategory by tapping Categories, swiping up and down the category list, and then tapping a category name in the list.
12. Tap a book cover to open the book description page.
Purchase a Book
From a book’s description page, you can purchase books that are currently available as well as pre-order books that will be released soon so you will receive the book on your Galaxy Tab 4 as soon as possible.
1. The title of the book, the book cover, and the Buy button appear at the top of the page.
2. Ratings, the publication date, and the number of pages appears at the top of the description area.
3. In the Rate This Book section, tap a rating star on a scale from one to five. For example, if you tap the second star from the right then the first four stars from left to right are highlighted in blue, which signifies that you give the app four stars on a five-star scale. Then you can type your review in the Review window.
4. View the entire description by tapping the down arrow in the Description area.
5. Read the entire review by tapping the review summary entry in the Reviews section.
6. Swipe upward on the screen to view more books by the author, related books, and an author biography.
7. View more information within a section, such as related books, by tapping the More button.
8. Tap the Buy button to begin the purchase process.
9. Tap the price to access more payment options.
10. Tap Payment Options to change or add a credit or debit card, redeem Google Play credits, or buy Google Play credits.
11. Tap Redeem to redeem Google Play credits to purchase this book in whole or in part.
12. Tap Buy to purchase the book. After you purchase the book, you will see the book in the Play Books app so you can read it as described in the next section.
Download and Read a Book
There are plenty of free books you can download from the Google Play Store so you can start reading classics and favorites right away.
1. Open the Play Books app as you did earlier in this chapter.
2. Swipe from right to left in the menu bar and then tap Top Free.
3. View all books in the list by swiping down. Tap the tile of the book you want to download.
4. Get information about the book, read reviews, add your own rating and review, and see related books as described in the previous section.
5. Tap the Add to Library button to add the book to your Play Books library.
6. The first page of the book appears in the Play Books app. Move to the next page by tapping the right side of the screen.
Use Reading Aids
The Play Books app contains many options for enhancing your e-book experience, including changing background color, font size, jumping to locations within the book, and organizing your book titles.
1. Open the Play Books app as described earlier in this chapter.
2. Tap the Google Play Books icon in the menu bar.
3. Tap My Library.
4. Swipe down the My Library page if necessary and then open the book by tapping the book cover image.
5. Tap the right side of the book page to progress to the next page. Tap the left side of the page to revisit the previous page. You can also flick left or right to turn pages.
6. Go to a page with text and then tap the middle of the screen to access reading aid controls.
7. Tap the Contents icon to access the table of contents for the book. You can jump to a chapter by tapping its title in the contents.
8. Tap About This Book to read an overview of the book.
9. Close the Chapters list by tapping the Back touch button.
10. Tap the Search icon to search for text in the book.
11. Type the search term(s) in the Search in Book field.
12. Tap the Search button in the keyboard.
13. View all the results and the page number on which each result appears by swiping up and down in the list.
14. View the page that contains your desired passage by tapping the entry in the list.
15. The search term(s) appear highlighted on the screen.
16. Return to the previous page in the book that contains the search term(s) on that page by tapping the left arrow icon.
17. Go to the next page that contains the search term(s) by tapping the right arrow icon.
18. Return to the search results list by tapping the Play Books icon in the menu bar. Close the search results list by tapping the Play Books icon again.
19. View reading aid controls by tapping the Back touch button.
20. Drag the slider to jump to different pages in the book.
21. After you drag the slider to jump to a different location, you can tap the arrow to jump back to where you were last reading.
22. Tap the Style icon at the right side of the menu bar to access more options.
23. Tap to change the text and background color theme for the page. Your choices are Day (black text on a white background), Night (white text on a black background), and Sepia (black text on a beige background).
24. Tap to change the overall font style for the book. Your choices are Default, Sans, Serif, Merriweather, Sorts Mill Goudy, and Vollkorn.
25. Tap to change the overall text alignment for the book. Your choices are Default, Left, and Justify.
26. Change the screen brightness in the Brightness slider. Set the brightness level to its default level by tapping the Auto checkbox.
27. Tap the T- and T+ buttons to decrease and increase, respectively, the size of the book font on the screen.
28. Tap the decrease button to decrease the size of the height between lines in the book.
29. Tap the increase button to increase the size of the height between lines in the book.
Add Bookmarks, Highlights, and Notes
Play Books provides the convenience of placing a bookmark where you stopped reading so you can begin at the right location later. You also have the capability to highlight text in a book and to leave notes.
Add a Bookmark and Go To a Bookmarked Page
1. Bookmark the page you’re currently reading by tapping the Menu icon and then tapping Add Bookmark.
2. A bookmark icon appears below the right side of the menu bar.
3. Close the book by tapping the book title in the menu bar.
4. Open the book in the My Library page by tapping the book cover image as described earlier in this chapter.
5. Tap the Contents icon.
6. Tap Bookmarks.
7. Tap the bookmark in the list.
8. The bookmarked page appears on the screen. Tap the middle of the screen to close the reading aid control and view the bookmark in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Highlight Text
1. You might want to specify a block of text in a block as a point of interest by highlighting it. Press your finger on the screen and hold. Blue handles appear on either side of the word.
2. A dictionary definition appears at the bottom of the screen.
3. Drag the handles of the arrows to specify the text you want to highlight.
4. Tap the Highlight icon in the menu bar.
5. The highlighted text appears on the page.
Add a Note
1. You can insert a note for an excerpt of text. Press your finger on the screen and hold. The highlighted word appears with handles on either side of the word.
2. Tap the Add Note icon.
3. Type the note in the Add Note field.
4. Tap the book page when you’re finished typing.
5. The passage of text is highlighted and an icon of a note sheet appears at the right side of the screen.
Organize Your Books
After you have accumulated many titles in your Play Books library, you need a method to the madness of organizing your books. By default, your books are ordered by the most recently downloaded on the Play Books home page. You have a couple other sorting options to choose from.
1. Tap the Play Books icon in the menu bar.
2. Tap My Library to view all the books in your library.
3. Tap the Menu icon in the menu bar.
4. Tap Sort to choose from the sorting options. Your choices are Recently Read, Title, and Author.
5. Tap Refresh to update your library with all of your latest, purchased content.
Using Google Play Newsstand
If you want to read magazines without wasting paper then the preinstalled Play Newsstand app on the Galaxy Tab 4 is for you. This app enables you to shop for magazines in the Google Play Store, purchase one or more issues of the magazine, and then read the magazine within the app.
Shop for Magazines
1. Tap the Apps icon on the Home page.
2. Swipe to the second page in the Apps screen.
3. Tap Play Newsstand.
4. Tap the Play Newsstand icon in the menu bar.
5. Tap Explore.
6. Swipe up and down the screen to view magazine topics in various categories. View more magazines in a category by tapping the category tile.
7. Tap Store to shop for magazines in the Play Store or tap Featured to view featured magazines in Play Newsstand.
8. Shop for all magazines within the category by tapping Shop.
9. View the entire list of top magazines by swiping up and down the screen.
10. Tap New Magazines to view all the latest magazines Google has added in that category.
11. Tap a magazine cover to open the magazine description page.
Purchase a Magazine
1. The title and issue of the magazine, the cover of the current issue, the Subscribe button, and the Buy button appear at the top of the page.
2. Ratings and the number of issues published in a specific timeframe (such as 13 issues per year) appear at the top of the description area.
3. In the Rate This Publication section, tap a rating star on a scale from one to five. For example, if you tap the second star from the right then the first four stars from left to right are highlighted in blue, which signifies that you give the app four stars on a five-star scale. Then you can type your review in the Review window.
4. View the entire description by tapping the down arrow in the Description area.
5. Swipe upward on the screen to view reader reviews, similar magazines, and back issues.
6. Tap More to view more information within a section, such as back issues.
7. Tap the Buy button to begin the purchase process.
8. Tap the price to access more payment options.
9. Tap Payment Options to change or add a credit or debit card, or buy Google Play credits.
10. Tap Redeem to redeem Google Play credits that will pay for the magazine issue in whole or in part.
11. Tap Buy to purchase the issue. After you purchase the issue, you will see the issue in the Play Newsstand app so you can read it as described later in the “Read an Issue” task later in the chapter.
Subscribe to a Magazine
You can also subscribe to the magazine so you can receive new issues on your Galaxy Tab 4 over a period of time.
1. Open a magazine page as described in the previous section.
2. Tap the Subscribe button to begin the subscription purchase process.
3. Tap the price to access more payment options. If the magazine includes a free trial, you see the date the trial expires.
4. Tap Payment Options to change or add a credit or debit card, or buy Google Play credits.
5. Tap Redeem to redeem Google Play credits that will pay for the magazine subscription in whole or in part.
6. Tap Subscribe to purchase the magazine subscription. After you purchase the subscription, you will see the most recent issue in the Play Newsstand app so you can read it as described in the next task.
2. Tap Magazines.
3. Swipe down to view the magazine issue you want to read and then tap the cover image.
4. The magazine issue cover appears in the Play Newsstand app. Move to the next page by swiping from right to left on the screen.
Use Reading Aids
The Play Newsstand app contains several options that make reading a magazine easier for you.
1. Open the Play Newsstand app as described earlier in this chapter.
2. Tap Magazines.
3. Swipe down to view the magazine issue you want to read and then tap the cover image.
4. Tap the right side of the magazine page to progress to the next page. Tap the left side of the page to revisit the previous page. You can also flick left or right to turn pages.
5. Tap the middle of the screen to access reading aid controls.
6. Tap the Contents icon to access the table of contents for the book.
7. The gray area in the center of the screen shows thumbnail images of the magazine. Swipe back and forth to view the article title for the magazine page that appears underneath the black arrow.
8. The article title for the first new article at the top of the page appears above the row of thumbnail images.
9. Tap the Back touch button to close the Contents list.
10. Navigate to another page in the magazine by tapping on the right side of the page until you reach the page you want to read.
11. Tap in the middle of the screen to access reading aid controls.
12. Your current location within the magazine is represented by the slider bar.
13. If you’re on a page that contains text, you can view the text version of articles on the page by tapping View Text.
14. If there is more than one article on the page, tap the article’s title to read in the Flowing Text Articles window.
15. View the entire article by swiping up and down on the screen.
16. Move to the next page in the article by swiping from right to left on the screen. Move to the previous page by swiping from left to right on the screen.
17. View the table of contents by tapping the middle of the screen and then tapping the Contents icon. You can swipe from left to right between magazine pages and then read the article on the selected page by tapping on the thumbnail image of the page.
18. Return to the text article by tapping the Back touch button.
19. The slider icon shows you where you are in relation to the entire article.
20. Return to the magazine page screen by tapping Exit Text.
Organize Your Magazines
After you have accumulated many titles in your Play Newsstand library, you need a method to the madness of organizing your magazines just as you do with books in the Play Books app. By default, your magazines are ordered by the most recently downloaded on the Play Newsstand home page. You have a couple other sorting options to choose from.
1. Open the Play Newsstand app as described earlier in this chapter.
2. View all the magazines in your library by tapping Magazines.
3. Tap the Menu icon in the menu bar.
4. Tap Refresh to update your library with all of your latest content.
5. Tap Manage Subscriptions to manage your magazine subscriptions on the Google Play Store website within either the Internet or Chrome browser.
6. Tap On Device Only to view only those magazines that have been downloaded onto your device.
7. Tap Sort to sort the list of magazines on the Magazines page by publication date (which is the default selection) or by title.
Shopping for Book and Magazine Readers
If you prefer to use another book or magazine reader, you can shop the Google Play Store for other cloud storage apps that are optimized for the Android operating system.
1. Tap Play Store on the Home page.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap the Search icon in the menu bar.
4. Type book readers in the Search Google Play field.
5. Tap the Search button in the keyboard.
6. Swipe up and down within the list of apps in the search results screen; you also see the Google Play Books app in this list. Tap a tile to view more information about the app. Read more about shopping for apps in the Google Play Store in Chapter 16, “Finding and Managing Apps.”
7. Tap the X icon in the Search Google Play field.
8. Type magazine apps in the Search Google Play field.
9. Tap the Search button in the keyboard.
10. Swipe up and down within the list of apps in the search results screen. Tap a tile to view more information about the app. Read more about shopping for apps in the Google Play Store in Chapter 16.
