Google Play Books for iOS Now Rents Textbooks

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Aldrin Calimlim for AppAdvice 2013-08-09 17:27:52 UTC

Google's recent update to its Google Play Books app for iOS brings only a handful of improvements, but one of them is pretty significant.

During its press event a couple of weeks ago for the new Nexus 7 and Chromecast, Google also announced that it would start offering textbook purchasing and rental this month. Sure enough, the company has made textbooks available for purchase or rent through its Google Play Books service.

SEE ALSO: Has The Google Maps App Taken A Turn For The Worse With Its New 'Ad Experience'?

Through Google Play Books, U.S. customers can now buy or rent textbooks from Google's partner publishers. Most titles are available for rent for a six-month period and for prices that are, of course, considerably lower than those for their print editions.

In line with this, Google has updated the iOS app of Google Play Books to include support for rental textbooks, directly challenging iBooks' textbook offerings.

Additionally, the app has been updated with a new sepia reading mode and support for highlighting and note-taking in scanned pages of books. Google Play Books for iOS is available in the App Store for free. The app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad running iOS 5.0 or later.

Image: Flickr, Pam Culver

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This article originally published at AppAdvice here

Topics: application, apps, Apps and Software, books, college, e-textbooks, education, Family & Parenting, Gadgets, Google Play, rental, rentals, Tech, textbooks, Update, Work & Play

AppAdvice is a Mashable publishing partner that offers news and reviews of iOS apps. This article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.