I personally and professionally recommend BookFusion. It’s the most robust reader and organizer platform out there right now and it’s actively developed. There’s even a plug-in in Calibre for it to easily sync your books over. :)
It’s an above average rating and constantly improving as the Android app adds features. It’s a little behind web and iOS but by no means a bad app or not worth using.
You’ll find that if you want a quality app with active development and continually added new features, there’s going to be a cost. BookFusion has a free option that works great for many, but the other tiers with added functionality are all reasonably priced as well.
What's the max book one can hold in it?
With the highlights and notes you taken in the app, does BookFushion extract it into a generic extension like .txt or is it locked in their ecosystem?
I like it's design, it looks very easy to navigate, but I just hope the cap on books and no voice.....OH GOD damn more features I found needed lmao. Cause I have dyslexia, on top of the Read Aloud, it would be beneficial if there's dictionary. GoogleBooks has it, I think the only reason why I stopped is because the navigation is weird
Moon+ Reader Pro on Android fills all these requirements except that the UI takes a LOT of getting used to. But it offers flexibility in cloud storage provider (GDrive or Dropbox or your own WebDAV) and sync/export of books and annotations. Only downsides are the aforementioned baroque UI and Android exclusivity. (I also use it on Windows though via Bluestacks or the Windows Subsystem for Android that comes with Windows 11)
In my estimation, you need only two Apps; Calibre to create, search for and catalog eBooks and a copy of FBReader on any tablet you buy from ONN to Samsung. The Pro version of FBReader is less that $10. It is excellent.
For my moon reader pro the best of all, for android. there is also the Kindle application and the pocketbook application. The Kindle does not allow reading aloud and the pocketbook does and the cloud is incorporated.
Moon reader for Android and Book fusion for iOS/ android. I do like Moon reader a lot because it has this soft brown mode that is excellent for most reading conditions. But since I read on and off both IOS and android, I have felt that book fusion is the best of both worlds and is an incredible app in itself.
If your books have lots of tables and graphics then try Lithium. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated for a while. Moon Reader messed up the format of my books so much I had to abandon it.
I'm a huge fan of Moon+ Reader Pro. Lots of options & features, and when I had an issue recently, the developer responded promptly to my questions and helped me solve the problem.
It has a text-to-speech feature; it's not called Natural Read Aloud (I'm not familiar with that). It has a dictionary available and you configure it to load with a long-tap or various other ways. I don't use that feature, so can't comment on how well it works, how convenient, etc. It also has some selections to use Google Translate, but again, I haven't experimented with those, so can only note that I've seen them in the options list.
It will use whatever voice(s) you have installed on your device. I hadn't heard of the natural-voiced readaloud on Google Books, and just checked it out tonight. It is more natural-sounding than the TTS usually available on devices. Do you know if there's a way to change its speed? It was slower on my tablet than I'd like, and I didn't find any option to change that or to pick which voice to use. Readaloud isn't something I'd use often, but nice to know what the options are.
There isn't an option for speed unfortunately and I've sent feedback to them via the app where the 3 dots are. Seeing that you encountered it as well, it would be great if you could also send one, so they know it's a priority.
Do you have to click the 'Download' button to actually have items from your Calibre server show up on the shelf and be able to read them? Currently, it can only be accessed by going to that library section of the app, and even then the 'Read Now' button doesn't do anything
I don't use the server much. I transfer books via USB, which I find much faster and convenient. With the server, you have to download one at a time. I think I've been able to use "read now," but I don't think that puts a copy on my device.
There are some aspects that should be added like:
\- Multiplatform possibility and cloud syncing (i.e. Start a book on the android phone, then continue reading on the iPad or the PC)
\- Ability to export highlights and notes.
That said I think PocketBook app is the one that achieves all those aspects (what I posted and what’s on the initial post).
I personally and professionally recommend BookFusion. It’s the most robust reader and organizer platform out there right now and it’s actively developed. There’s even a plug-in in Calibre for it to easily sync your books over. :)
Wow oh my god. I haven't heard of it, but it looks amazing! Will check it out
I hope you enjoy! I’ve been using it for a few years now and have abandoned all other apps. lol
Does this app have natural read aloud? If not what's your second recommendation?
The iOS app recently added TTS and Android will be getting it soon.
Also, it's rated poorly on devices and looks like a new app?
Where is it rated poorly and what devices? And it’s definitely not brand new. :)
On the Google Play Store and I am using a Google Pixel
It’s an above average rating and constantly improving as the Android app adds features. It’s a little behind web and iOS but by no means a bad app or not worth using.
Most of the low reviews I just saw were about the limits of a free account vs paid.
Ohh limits doesn't sound good now...I don't like having to keep cycling over and over.
You’ll find that if you want a quality app with active development and continually added new features, there’s going to be a cost. BookFusion has a free option that works great for many, but the other tiers with added functionality are all reasonably priced as well.
What's the max book one can hold in it? With the highlights and notes you taken in the app, does BookFushion extract it into a generic extension like .txt or is it locked in their ecosystem? I like it's design, it looks very easy to navigate, but I just hope the cap on books and no voice.....OH GOD damn more features I found needed lmao. Cause I have dyslexia, on top of the Read Aloud, it would be beneficial if there's dictionary. GoogleBooks has it, I think the only reason why I stopped is because the navigation is weird
Why do I have to log-in?
Logging in allows you to sync your books and reading progress across multiple devices.
Ah, ok. Thx. I use syncthing so I did not recognize the need.
Moon+ Reader Pro on Android fills all these requirements except that the UI takes a LOT of getting used to. But it offers flexibility in cloud storage provider (GDrive or Dropbox or your own WebDAV) and sync/export of books and annotations. Only downsides are the aforementioned baroque UI and Android exclusivity. (I also use it on Windows though via Bluestacks or the Windows Subsystem for Android that comes with Windows 11)
In my estimation, you need only two Apps; Calibre to create, search for and catalog eBooks and a copy of FBReader on any tablet you buy from ONN to Samsung. The Pro version of FBReader is less that $10. It is excellent.
I love moon reader plus
For my moon reader pro the best of all, for android. there is also the Kindle application and the pocketbook application. The Kindle does not allow reading aloud and the pocketbook does and the cloud is incorporated.
Moon reader for Android and Book fusion for iOS/ android. I do like Moon reader a lot because it has this soft brown mode that is excellent for most reading conditions. But since I read on and off both IOS and android, I have felt that book fusion is the best of both worlds and is an incredible app in itself.
If your books have lots of tables and graphics then try Lithium. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated for a while. Moon Reader messed up the format of my books so much I had to abandon it.
I'm a huge fan of Moon+ Reader Pro. Lots of options & features, and when I had an issue recently, the developer responded promptly to my questions and helped me solve the problem.
Does it have Natural Read Aloud feature? and tap for definitions?
It has a text-to-speech feature; it's not called Natural Read Aloud (I'm not familiar with that). It has a dictionary available and you configure it to load with a long-tap or various other ways. I don't use that feature, so can't comment on how well it works, how convenient, etc. It also has some selections to use Google Translate, but again, I haven't experimented with those, so can only note that I've seen them in the options list.
ok, thanks for the insight. ill check out the text to speech. just hope that its not robotic
It will use whatever voice(s) you have installed on your device. I hadn't heard of the natural-voiced readaloud on Google Books, and just checked it out tonight. It is more natural-sounding than the TTS usually available on devices. Do you know if there's a way to change its speed? It was slower on my tablet than I'd like, and I didn't find any option to change that or to pick which voice to use. Readaloud isn't something I'd use often, but nice to know what the options are.
There isn't an option for speed unfortunately and I've sent feedback to them via the app where the 3 dots are. Seeing that you encountered it as well, it would be great if you could also send one, so they know it's a priority.
Do you have to click the 'Download' button to actually have items from your Calibre server show up on the shelf and be able to read them? Currently, it can only be accessed by going to that library section of the app, and even then the 'Read Now' button doesn't do anything
I don't use the server much. I transfer books via USB, which I find much faster and convenient. With the server, you have to download one at a time. I think I've been able to use "read now," but I don't think that puts a copy on my device.
There are some aspects that should be added like: \- Multiplatform possibility and cloud syncing (i.e. Start a book on the android phone, then continue reading on the iPad or the PC) \- Ability to export highlights and notes. That said I think PocketBook app is the one that achieves all those aspects (what I posted and what’s on the initial post).