Internet search services provider Google, US, has reportedly announced the release of a mobile-friendly version of its Book Search service. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, Google has scanned page images from about 1.5 million public domain books and converted them to screen-friendly text. The new website makes these pages available for easier viewing on devices like the iPhone and T-Mobile's Android-powered G1.
There are, however, some potential errors in this process, such as smudges and other imperfections in the text, which Google has reportedly admitted to. There are still a number of usability problems at this initial stage. For one, the works are not paginated; users have to scroll through large passages of text. And the biggest downside is that users have to be connected to the Internet to view the books, so reading on a subway is out of the question.Currently, only out-of-copyright works are available on Google's mobile site.
The company recently reached a settlement with publishers and authors in a three-year-old lawsuit over scanning and including books in its search. As a part of the settlement, Google set up a site where authors can go and claim their works as well as permit them to be previewed or purchased from the library. Therefore, eventually, newer books might be included in the mobile version that are for sale.
More and more publishers are looking to mobile devices as the next big e-book reader platform. However, but due to small screen sizes and poor battery life, larger devices like the Sony Reader and Kindle are proving to be very popular alternatives, it has been observed.
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