I use eSpeak and highly discourage using the Google Engine.
But I experimented in a user profile and at least
- compatibility layer
- the three Google apps, play store disabled
- Google TTS from Aurorastore
Worked directly. You need to enable the TTS once, or it wont work.
The espeak voice sounds very robotic though, and you need to tweak it to fit your needs. I recommend using it, as its fine.
There are many other TTS libaries out there, simply nobody has made an Android App yet.