FBReader: Favorite Book Reader

Peter Lim

Positìve: The capability of syncing between different devices on different OS. Now you can read seamlessly from any of your devices. Negative: Reading progress status only for the entire book. No progress status for the chapter. So, no idea how long more before reaching end of chapter. Please add this feature.

Chris Warton

I used to love this reader. But all of a sudden it has started not recognizing any of my books. I navigate the folders to get to where I have my books stored on folders by genre and author...and when I get to the folder where the books actually are, it sees...nothing. it doesn't list any of the books that are in the folder. The Android file explorer finds them, other eBook readers find them...this one cannot. And I can't even get a response from support :(

A Google user

Like others, pretty disappointed with this recent update, which messed up the FB TTS reader plugin's ability to easily work with the main app. I don't have paid version and I'm hesitant to buy premium for the TTS because I liked the free plugin so much. The plugin was nicely customizable and I was able to get the accent and voice exactly how I wanted it. Not sure if I can count on the premium version for the same. Luckily I've been able to still use the plugin with the app, but it's much more tedious to set up, especially if I want to swap tabs and pause or rewind/fast-forward. If any one can let me know if the premium read-aloud is exactly the same as the FB TTS, I would appreciate it. (with access to the google TTS voices and acents) If this isn't fixed or is made worse, I'll have to move to another app for the convenience, though I've yet to find one that has the right amount of customization as the plugin.

A Google user

The good: displays covers and other images more or less correctly and allows my own css to override its own settings. This is what I was looking for since the reader I was using has stopped displaying covers and full page images. The bad: it's hard to get into the menu and I can't get rid of the introduction "book". This should not be a start screen; app should open to library like other readers. Also, doesn't look like it supports vertical-align property per epub3.

A Google user

I have the premium edition and I use the Read Aloud function to 'read' EPUB books while I walk my dog. Some reviewers have compared the premium Read Aloud function unfavorably to the plugin for the free version. I haven't used the separate plugin so I can't speak to that but the Read Aloud function in the premium edition works well. At first the app had a tendency to crash when I tried to configure the Google Text To Speech voices but that seems to have gone away. I find the voices with a UK accent suit me best since the occasional mispronunciation stands out less when all the words are said in a charmingly odd way. My only irritation (and the reason for the missing fifth star) is that the rewind/go back function gets stuck on short sentences. When the button is pressed the app backs up to the previous sentence. If it is quite short there's no way to press the button fast enough to get past it. If the text contains "No. That's not right." you can't back up past the "No."

A Google user

My go to ebook reader. I used to use google play books and kindle then discovered this and the plethora of great public domain books. Many of the classic adventure novels are in the public domain and tons of other interesting stuff to read. If you want to read a lot of new releases, not sure how this app works for those. But thats not my thing. Also use the TTS plugin along with googles British male voice. It does sound a bit machine-like but it doesn't bother me. It's like my own low tech AI reading to me in a soothing modulated voice. And he's got a British accent, what's not to love about that. Anyway, great app. And great paired with the TTS plugin if you are a person that doesn't get hung up TTS voices not sounding human enough.

A Google user

Honestly a pretty good reading app that I might revisit. This review is from a trial I did as I was testing several readers. It features a wealth of options including manual margin entry, solid interface customization, and above average formatting. I found no option for continuous vertical scrolling which is a buzzkill for me. It did not initially recognize all books in the storage location, though did still open them if manually navigated to. In my only hour or so trial I had a freeze/crash.

drizuid

It's a pretty great app and I like it a lot, however, it says it supports azw3, but if you browse OPDS, even AZW3 novels with no DRM are not able to be downloaded only mobi can be downloaded. It's pretty frustrating. After having my wife try it out, i did find that the UI is not user-friendly, she's used to kindle, fbr is just weird .. i guess it was simple enough for me, but maybe some UI work can be done to help noobs (like my wife)

A Google user

Fbreader is a decent basic reader app but navigation of book catalogs isn't straightforward and therefore tedious. This makes the premium version a big improvement. HOWEVER. You will never be able to take this paid app from one device to another should you get a new phone or tablet. The site and developer give useless directions on how to make this happen but in the end they just want another $6. Which is why I can't post this on the premium app with my new phone.

A Google user

Love the app. I paid for the Pro version because it is so good. My only problem is with the text to speech system. Each time I try to initialize it, it pops up the language selector. Its annoying, but i deal with it all the time on my LONG commutes.