Tetris Blitz: the Android Version

I was once really bored of the one and only game in my phone so I decided to search for the best Android games. I found a lot but only a number really caught my attention. One of them is Tetris Blitz.

I've been a fan of Tetris ever since I was small. So I thought why not. I haven't played it for a while, anyway. I admit that I'm not good enough to get high scores every single time, but at least I have fun. It's always nice when a few blocks of lines disappear, then our score will increase quite significantly.

This game is just like any other Tetris games out there. The concept is the same. What makes it different is that we can use some power-ups to rise our score. There are a number of them available, but we have to use the coins to buy them. And we'll get them from playing. Some experience points (XP) as well (to go to the next level). I'm not sure if it's a new concept from an update or it's because I've reached a certain level because it was never there before.

These power-ups can be purchased with our coins and we can use up to three per game. Each power-up can be used three times. Unfortunately after we've finished using it, we have to pay with our coins to use it again. I've tried many times playing Tetris without any power-ups but the scores are pretty low around 100,000. So power-ups really help.

We can also get free coins by buying them with real money or even login to Facebook. But since I don't like doing that so I just let it be. I can make use of this chance to play as many times as I want.

Also, we can beat someone's high score in the game to get free coins.

Another way is by making use of the Bonus Blitz which we can spin every 6 hours. There are some things that we can get: a free power-up and some coins (ranging from 1K to 50K but the most I've ever got is 8K). I dunno if it's a glitch, but more than once I actually got 2 free spins which was really weird because we usually get only 1.

What I like about this game, other than the Bonus Blitz, is the outline of each tetromino. So whenever a new one appears at the top, they will give us the outlines of where to put. We can just tap on the outline itself if it fits. If we don't like any of them, we can rotate it 90 degrees by either tapping the Cycle box on the left side or just tap the empty space on our screen. They will give us new outlines and we can just then tap the desirable one when we're satisfied with it.

What I don't like is the sensitivity. Sometimes I have to tap more than once to go to the Bonus Blitz. Is it my phone? Or is it the game itself? Sometimes I even accidentally press something else.

Another thing is it takes time to load. And when I say that, I mean it's REALLY long. My phone even locks itself because of it. Yes, I can change the settings for the lock. But it still takes time.

There's no exit button. So we have to press the back button to do so. It's pretty annoying to be honest because there's no warning whether I really want to exit or not. What if I press it accidentally? What if I just want to go to the previous page?

Having said that however, it's a pretty nice game that I can play to pass the time.

UPDATE (03.08.13): I just remember. Bonus Blitz can only be accessed if the internet connection of your phone is stable. Otherwise, it won't allow you to take the free spin. If you can't wait for 6 hours, you can also buy a spin which I assume you would have to pay with real money.

LINE: for Android

 LINE is a chat messenger where you can call your contacts and send messages for free, provided you're connected to the Internet. This is almost similar to other former messengers, like WhatsApp, Skype, WeChat, Kakao Talk, etc. Instead of only emoticons, it also has stickers to display what you're feeling at the moment. You can add famous people - like actors/actress, musician - and send them messages. You can send messages to more than one person simultaneously. All you have to do is put them in one group and voila! That's it.

Where I live, every chat messenger is at the peak of its success. Every time I watch the TV, there will definitely be an adverstisement about it. Be it WeChat, Kakao Talk and LINE. WhatsApp and Skype are not very famous these days because there are a lot of competitors. Nevertheless, I still use both of them since my friends use them as well.

I'm the type of person who sticks to old things and throws them away only if I don't use them anymore, so I just use WhatsApp. It's simple and easy. Then my sister (the same one who got me hooked on Burger) asked me to get LINE because "it has stickers!!" (her words, not mine). After some coaxing from her, I decided to install it. Because I have some contacts saved on my phone, they're added automatically. Granted, it's only those who have LINE.

In this free app, there's this button called Timeline. When I first used it, I immediately guessed that it's something like what Facebook has: what we and our friends have posted on LINE and everyone can see. Until now, I have never posted anything there because 1) my Internet is really slow to even load the Timeline and 2) I have no idea what to post because I'm not the type to do so (I'm not as active in Twitter these days). So I haven't tried this feature yet. But I read from the Help Centre that WindowsPhone, BlackBerry and PC versions of LINE can't use it at the moment.

Since we can add a famous person in LINE, we can chat with them. Or rather, send them a message or two because I'm pretty sure they're not online every single minute like some of us. To add them, you can go to More and then Official Accounts. You can search by their names or IDs. At first I didn't want to add anyone except my friends, but I accidentally added a music group. I don't think there's an unfriend button so I still have them as my 'friend'. As far as I know, you can't see their Timeline because I've tried going to their chat screen and I can't find their Home because that's where their Timeline is.

To be honest, LINE is quite complicated. There are a LOT of buttons to click, for example the More button at the top (or at the bottom, depends on your device) and the Settings button inside the More section. Even until now, I'm still confused where to get the coins from. Maybe from playing the games? I have no clue.

If you want to go to the Settings, you have to click the More button first. Usually, you can just click the Options button on your phone, then you can see the Settings. But not in this app. Like I said, it's complicated and it needs time to get used to.

Another thing is I sometimes cannot see new chats sent by my friends. I dunno if it's my slow Internet or there's a glitch somewhere, but it doesn't update to new messages. I have to exit from the app and return there later on. And before I know it, I have a lot of unread messages because I 'didn't receive any' before.

Even until now, I still haven't tried the games. But apparently you have to download it first from your own device's application store. I just found out about it not too long ago. Maybe one day I'll download a game and update this once I find out how it is.

UPDATE (10.06.13):
Finally I've tried some of the games in LINE. Some of the reviews aren't pretty good but I downloaded anyway because I was curious. I played one of them and unfortunately my phone crashed. I couldn't press anything because it was unresponsive. I had to switch it off and immediately uninstalled the games. My phone was getting slower anyway.

Burger: the Android Version

Burger is a simple game where you stack up the ingredients of a burger that is shown on the display located on the top right corner. The ingredients include lettuce, patty, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, tomato, cheese, pickles, fish (some of them will be added once you finish a certain level). There are also muffin, soft drink, potato wedges, french fries (some will also be added later on).

My sister got me hooked on this one. I didn't have games like these before. I used to have Fruit Ninja (which until this right second I still can't slice three pineapples to get that last sword), Pou, Snakes I and II, Logo Quiz and Unblock Me. In time, they got boring (I haven't played Snakes I and II for weeks or maybe even months) so a game like Burger was a nice change. It also reminds me of Bishi Bashi, an arcade game I used to play back in the days.

Believe me, when I first installed this game on my android, I couldn't stop playing it. I'm addicted to the game because it's really fun. All we do is stack up the ingredients according to the menu, and that's it (well, of course everything is being timed). It's really simple, yet entertaining.

The best part is when I have a new ingredient. This usually happens when I successfully pass a month. Although, I do wish that the money we get from tips and selling these burgers can be used to do something. Like maybe get new ingredients faster than waiting for a whole month to finish? Or maybe decorate the restaurant? Granted, we can't even see the customers. So what's the use of a different wallpaper, right?

What I don't like from the game is that most of the times, I can't press the ingredients - usually the sandwich (on the bottom left of the display) or the french fries (on the bottom right of the display). It's annoying because it slows down the progress of me stacking up the burger. Therefore, it decreases the amount of money that I'm supposed to get. This is one of the reasons why I wish my phone was bigger, or my fingers were smaller.

Hmm now I wonder what would happen if I 'accidentally' get the orders of the burger wrong. Will I fail that day? Or will it just skip that order and do the next one? I shall check soon.

Anyway, another thing that I don't like is its sensitivity. I'm not talking about the part where we actually start playing the game. Rather it's the screen after each day has finished, where we click Continue to continue the next day. I used to think that we could only click the word Continue in order to, well, continue. Apparently, even if we click somewhere else - like the bottom of the screen, for example - we will be taken to the next day. On one side, it's actually a good idea. Simultaneously though, not at all. I can't just slide a finger on the LCD on accident because it's going to take me to the next day.

Then again, I can just click the back button so I can pause it and restart it all over again.

Oh, and another thing is this game makes me want to eat burger afterwards. I don't recommend playing this if you're on a diet or at the moment fasting because I know for sure it's going to make you hungry.

UPDATED (23.04.13):
So one day I was playing this game. And of course, as the game progresses, the orders get longer and harder. One time, I actually put the incorrect order. In the end, I still got it all wrong and I skipped. However, I still passed that level/day because the goal was reached. I guess you can't exactly fail a day for getting an order or more wrong.

Pou: the Tamagotchi for Android

Tamagotchi, one of my favourite playthings in the world. Ever since my Dad bought one for me years ago, I loved it (still do, actually). I know it's a child's toy, but there's nothing wrong with owning one when I'm old enough to get a husband (just an example). No matter how many times I played it, it didn't get boring because it was fun. But I had to let it go because it broke.

When I finally got my own android, I went to to the Play Store and looked for an app that somehow resembles tamagotchi. I know there has got to be one because buying a tamagotchi will be a waste since I might misplace it or something (that thing is tiny). Then I found "Pou". It's somehow similar to tamagotchi where you can feed it, play with it, tuck it into bed and clean it. There are levels as well where you can unlock to get costumes, accessories, more food, wallpapers for the room, etc.

One of the best things about Pou is that it's in colours. My old tamagotchi wasn't because it's pixelated (unless of course new tamagotchis are different). That's why in Pou we can change the wallpapers for the rooms; the bedroom, kitchen, lab and games room. We can also change the colour and the kind of ball in the games room, the light on the bedroom, and later on (above level 35) the phone on the hall. Just click the Shop on the right side at the bottom of each room and choose which one to buy.


Leveling up is actually quite easy. We just have to feed, play, clean and heal it. Doing those things increases our coins, which we can use to buy more food/drinks, buy potions for our Pou when they're sick/tired, buy costumes/accessories and others. Once we reach certain things (e.g. Pou eats 3 kinds of food, Pou heals 100% more than once), we can unlock certain achievements and then we will get more money.

If we have friends who also play Pou, we can befriend them. I haven't found any unfortunately, so I'm not quite sure what it actually does. Maybe our Pou can go to their houses? All I know we have to put our email to register, I assume.

The hall is where we can record our voice (or any noise/sound) that Pou can hear. Pou then repeats what it hears. It's pretty cute when it copies the sound. This room is new; it just appeared not too long ago. Either it's a new room that the inventor(s) has/have just created or maybe because I reached a certain level. Too bad that we can't actually save the record of its voice, because that in my opinion would be better. It will be unique, rather than having it to just record the noise/sound. We can even turn the mic off if we don't want it to do anything.

Other than a microphone in the middle, it has a phone on the left. When we click on it, it's basically like the menu on the right at the top of each room. I think it's pretty redundant because it's almost the exact same thing.

All in all, it's quite satisfying. I play with it a lot when I'm bored (which is almost most of the time). Although, I wish I could name my Pou.

And I dunno why the Pou in this laptop is in a darker shade than the real one in my phone. I never change the colour of its body because I thought the original one suits it better than the other colours.

The New Yahoo! Mail App for Androids

Everybody has email addresses. Well okay, not exactly everybody. Almost. It’s pretty much an essential thing to have in this modern world where information technology (or just the computer itself) surrounds us.

I’ve been using email for years; ever since I was in my second year of my Junior High. Before that, it hasn’t existed yet (or maybe I was just ignorant). At first, I had no idea how to use it. I didn’t know that we needed the Internet connection.

I remember that a friend of mine gave me her email address. I used Microsoft Office Outlook to send her an email. Like I said, I had no clue about this email business. Once I finished writing, I sent it and told her what I did. We waited for hours but she didn’t get anything (note: I wasn’t connected to the Internet). Then my dad taught me about emails because I don’t think we were taught yet in school.

Even to this day – to this right second – I still have that email address that my dad made for me.

I use Yahoo because it was at its famous stage when my email was created. I have two accounts – one for personal things and one formal. I’ve seen its changes over the years. I quite like the current view, but I prefer the classic one if I had to choose. It takes a shorter time to load and I like that because my Internet connection at the moment is pretty slow.

But enough about that; I’m here to share my opinion on the new Yahoo mail app for androids.

The new app is quite different from the previous one. Now that I’m so used to it, I don’t even remember how the former one looked like (even though I’ve used it for a very long time). All I remember is that I had to check a message(s) and then press the Menu/Option button to delete or move it to a folder. The new app is better in my opinion. If you check a message(s), the appropriate buttons will appear at the bottom of the screen: delete, move, spam and (un)check all buttons. I thought that’s a very nice idea since users don’t have to click so many times to, for example delete one message.

The color is nice. In my opinion, it’s eye-catching. But I might be biased because I like purple. Although, it would be good if we can actually change the color. I’ve gone through the settings many times, but I still can’t find the option to do so.

Overall, it’s a pretty good interface.

However, I do have several things that I don’t really like form the new app. And they’re all as follows.

First of all, the delete or move button. I don’t know if it’s only my android, my unstable connection, or the app itself, but sometimes messages that I want to delete can’t be deleted no matter how many times I press that button. It’s still there until I actually give up and try to delete it again much later. The same goes to the move button.

Second problem is the sync. Sometimes my phone isn’t synchronized with the web version. It’s deleted on the phone, but not on the web. It’s read on the web, not on the phone. Or vice versa. It’s troublesome because I have to do it twice.

The third is the double account problem. As mentioned before, I have two Yahoo accounts and I use both of them frequently. That’s why I have both accounts online in my phone, because it’ll be easier to check emails without logging out one of them. The problem is, however, sometimes I can only access one account even if I’m signed in both. No matter how many times I click the account that I want to access, I am still in the other account. It’s annoying, to be honest.

All of these problems might be because of my connection. They might be glitches from the app itself. Nevertheless, I really hope that they can be solved soon.