Very
good
Summary
Do you need to look up a word? Or you need to verify a term? Sure, doing a Google search via your browser is always a possibility—but wouldn’t it be great to have an app that can help you out with such things? Especially one that comes with an offline dictionary, meaning it can be using even when you don’t have internet access? Fora Dictionary is that kind of app. Read on to find out what makes Fora so special!
Features & Use
Section rating:
Test device: HTC Wildfire
Android Version: 2.1
Usable as of: 1.0
Authorizations: Internet for online dictionary, SD card changes/delete for offline dictionary
Fora Dictionary is both an online and offline dictionary. In case of the latter the app can make use of a while bunch of different formats: StarDict, XDXF, DSL, DICTD, as well as the plain-text TSV format. The dictionaries are installed on your SD card und used by Fora for quick access. This can take a bit of time, but it only has to be done once. Suitable dictionaries can be found online, for instance on yelou.com which has the StarDict collection. Packages are also available on the Market; these can be found and downloaded via the app.
Fora Dictionary is pretty good at finding online dictionaries: it can be done via automatic search (the app adds all automatically found addresses), or you can enter a key word to specify your search (e.g. ‘Italian’ or ‘Bible’). A third option displays every available source that you can then go through and select links manually. Entering a URL manually is also possible.
You can assign a color to every dictionary (online and offline) as well as select which order they should be displayed in. For instance: if you want to look up a Spanish word but couldn’t find what you’re looking for in an English-Spanish dictionary you can always try your luck in a thesaurus. That means that even if you can’t find a literal translation you will still get the meaning of the word. Finally, if you want to know how the word is pronounced you can get Fora Dictionary to say it for you by using the TTS (Text to Speech, Engine) tool.
Another awesome feature is the fact that you can use Fora Dictionary with Moon+ Reader which is super useful when you’re reading foreign books or text books with lots of technical terms. Just highlight the word, call Fora, and behold, an explanation awaits. No need to worry about no internet reception, either—provided you’ve installed a suitable offline dictionary, that is.
That’s a quick outline of some of the app’s features, but it has a whole lot more to offer: results/history can be exported or sent as HTML/text, Clipboard-Lookup, etc.
Bottom line:
Fora Dictionary is a great tool when you need to look something up quickly. It provides a great choice of dictionaries and formats and leaves little to be desired.
Screen & Controls
Section rating:
Fora Dictionary is not going to wow you by its graphic ingenuity, but it’s really easy to use. The design may strike some of you as being somewhat simple but its well thought out and laid out in a logical way which makes it relatively easy to find everything.
Speed & Stability
Section rating:
Fora Dictionary’s overall performance is good: it runs smoothly and steadily.
Price/Performance Ratio
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Fora Dictionary can be downloaded free of cost from the Market. The same thing goes for several of the dictionaries. Further dictionaries can be found on the internet, most of them for free. So far there hasn’t been a reason to contact the Support, but because of how much the app provides I don’t mind doling out a full five star rating.
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Market Comments
alx3apps, Apr 6, 2012
great dictionary Use it all the time with XDXF dicts, fuzzy search helps sometimes.
, Mar 31, 2012
Poor history features For such a good app, the history features are disappointing. If one wants to keep track of new words that one comes across, the history vanishes after you close the app. I don't want to export history manually each time I close the app. The least the dev could do is add an option to automatically append history to a text file upon exit.
Arunsundar, Mar 21, 2012
Great Best offline dict available. Learn how n install the offline packages. Helps best when reading ebooks from mobile
Matheus, Mar 18, 2012
Awful I downloaded it twice and nothing showed up neither on my download list nor on my applications although the file was there. I couldn't reach its directory either so I removed it (so I think). I don't think it was some bug because I had download Theasaurus and it was perfectly functional. I hope this isn't prejudicial.
Uriel, Mar 17, 2012
Good! The only lacking feature is batch import of dictionaries from folders and subfolders!
Alex Pup, Mar 14, 2012
Have I ever told you how much I love you, guys You have really made a difference with this application. Fora helps me so much and it's getting better...
Mick, Feb 25, 2012
Very good! Everybody who was using colordict should switch to this. Much better, especially since you don't have to get spammed with ads!
I have to say that I like QuickDic more as a German to English translator (due to the way it saves battery life) than Fora, but QuickDic doesn't have a regular dictionary function.