UNINSTALL It!

It's rare, but every once in awhile you get a really badly behaved app for your Android-- one that just won't work for you or isn't right for you or even locks up your device.  But a misbehaving or inappropriate app can become more aggravating if the thing simply won't uninstall.  It sits there, taking up space on your phone or tablet, and attempts to get rid of the thing end with your system hanging up and nothing being done.

I ran into this situation myself after trying out the highly rated Nun Attack and its successor.  After a few attempts at the program (and at turning OFF the sound), I decided that these games just weren't for me.  So I tried uninstalling them... only to find that the built-in uninstall program for these games just didn't work on my Samsung Galaxy 5 phone.  Annoyed, I went into the settings for my Samsung phone and tried using the file system to uninstall, but they didn't go away.

And that's about the time that the whole situation got on my last little nerve.  So I did what any good geek does -- went out and started hunting down an application to get rid of it.  After a few tries, I came across a little app called "Uninstall" by Diya.

This is a little freeware gem for your android phone software problems.  It doesn't need fancy permissions, it doesn't throw ads at you.  It brings up a display of your apps (in alphabetical order) and you tap on the one that you want gone for good.

And it uninstalls it.  Just like that.

I gave it 5 stars.  You can find it here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=diya.android.uninstall

Not so glorious time wasters -- A Knights Dawn

Android game: A Knight's Dawn

I tried hard to like this one because it had so much going for it --  a hybrid gamethat's a cross between a steampunkish roleplaying game and an arcade shooter.  It comes complete with a storyline that weaves through the levels and ties the scenarios together neatly.  It allowed flexibility with character choice, and once you figure out the mechanics (where to place ranged fighters (musketeers) and melee fighters (knights, axemen, etc)) it wasn't that hard to successfully complete a level.

But where it really went wrong for me was in the persistent microtransactions where you pay through Paypal or a credit card for equipment upgrades.  Yes, you can earn enough points to upgrade ONE of your characters -- if you play six rounds at one level.  It was far too easy to hit on one of the "download this and get THIS much XP" ads, and the constant commercials (along the lines of "just upgrade with XP and you won't LOSE this level!") were a total turnoff.  I don't mind ads and I do understand that developers need to be recompensed.  But I prefer the "upgrade payment" or "free but you've got ads" model to the "buy your way to heroics."

The best gaming experience for A Knight's Dawn is on larger tablets.  It was almost impossible to get through the first level on my phone, and the darkness of the graphics made it hard to locate my heroes on the 7 inch tablet.  Load time of the game itself was quite long -- I thought my machines had frozen.

And I just hate the constant microtransactions (pay money for gear) -- did I mention that?  Yeah.  I thought so.