Let's appreciate a great app

                                          

Readable for Wikipedia: It's not the app you need, but the one you deserve.

In reality it's the app you probably don't need, but one you can greatly benefit from + it's free.

Have you ever wanted to listen to a bunch of Wikipedia article? In all likelihood no, but now that I've planted the idea into your head maybe you're curious about it.

Author's note: I am not sponsored in any way to review this app (although I wish I was).

What the app does

It's really simple: all that it does is let you save whole Wikipedia articles onto your phone and uses your built in  
text-to-speech tool (most likely Google Text-to-speech) to read them out to you.

When is it most useful

Imagine you're about to partake on a long train ride, and you're wondering: What am I supposed to do during all this time? (wink, wink)

Well have no fear, Readable is here to save you! Or something like that.

Anyway the app is great when you've got a lot of time, not much juice left in the phone battery and no intention of using any mobile data. Just save all of the Wikipedia posts you want in your "Offline library" beforehand and play them when the time comes.

One moment you're learning about drug development and the next you're listening to the story of the guy who created PGP.

Method of exploration

The app can be figured out by a child, but I would still give some simple tips.

• If you have disabled/uninstalled your phone's text-to-speech tool, you'll need to enable/install it again.
• If the speech sounds unbearable update to the latest Google Text-to-speech (or any other tool) version.
• Keep in mind that no matter what version you're using the speech will still sound a little robotic, but you'll get used to it in no time.
• I recommend bumping the "Voice speed" to the max and finding the exact "Voice pitch" that sounds right to you.
• Stack up on articles on whatever you're interested in, that way you'll never run out.

 Strengths of the app

• It's basically a portable audio library.
• Low battery consumption.
• Practically no memory usage (due to the app only saving text + a couple of images, per article).
• Seriously how cool is having part of the Wikipedia's massive amount of information playing in your ears.

Weaknesses  of the app

• Some people may find the robotic voice irritating.
• As with most text-to-speech engines you're likely to find encounter incorrect pronunciation e.g "-" always being vocalized as minus or acronyms containing "." occasionally being pronounced with a weird pause in between etc.
• Even though the app is perfect for learning about past events, finished procedures and general knowledge it is lacking in information about current happenings and practical knowledge. This is mostly due to Wikipedia's form of content. It's best to try and decide for yourself what you're going to use the app for.
• Don't even try to play articles which have a lot of formulas and/or Greek symbols in them.

Conclusion

I've already said my peace, but I guess I should write something for the end.

Even with the not-excellent vocalization on certain topics, I think the app's potential to give you a massive amount of information outweighs all of the app's liabilities.