Mobile App Review: Medscape, Free App (7.7 Samsung Galaxy, Android)

I was surprised by how "serious" this application is. It over exceeded my expectations.

It has the following sections:

1. Medical News Alerts
The first screen contains up-to-date medical alerts. Today's alert (June 2, 2012) is that FDA announces safety label changes to Finasteride.

2. Medical News
The latest new published today (June 2, 2012) is "Revacozumab Boosts Outcomes in Resistant Ovarian cancer"

3. Medical Reference
This section is divided into Drugs, Diseases, Procedures, Drug interactions, health phone directory (physician search, pharmacy search, hospital search), Medline.
I was able to look up my medicines and see the information about interactions. Very useful!

4. Education/Training
This section contains a lot of information, including the latest updates for various medical conditions.
The latest update is a day old from June 1, 2012 "Can Bishphonate Use Lead to Atypical Femoral Fractures?"

You have two options for perusing the information. Either by clicking on the icons on the first page for perusing most recent first, or by searching on keywords.

I published some of the titles so you can see that this is a serious medical reference aimed at practitioners in the medical field. I think it is also useful for people outside the medical profession but probably some information is going to be too "technical". But better to have too much information than too little!

This application is very large and took quite a long time to install. This app works well on my Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet (my Galaxy 7.7 review) running Android HoneyComb 3.2. I had no technical problems and the app scales to my screen size very nicely.

I was very impressed with this app and recommend it.


This app is free from Amazon Android Store and
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

You can find reviews of other mobile apps I use under Blog Label "Galaxy 7.7 Tablet" on the left navigation pane of the blog.

Product review: Folding deck table from Adams Manufacturing 8500-23-3700 Quick-Fold Side Table, Desert Clay

I purchased this folding table for my small deck, where I wanted to have a table but space is at a premium because I have a patio garden. This table works quite well as it is easy to fold up and store in the corner of the deck when I don't need it. The only negative is that if you want to move the table when it is in the open position it should not have anything on it. The table folds in the middle during any movement (see attached photo). This is a bit inconvenient when I use it on the deck to put down a cup of coffee or a lunch plate. It would have been better if the table had a latch on the side to stabilize the top when it is in the open position.

I am attaching a collage of 3 photos under customers photos to aid in this review.

Photo #1 shows the table next to a ruler, the table top is at 20" from the ground. The table comes in a nice clay color. I put a piece of white paper on top of the table, so you can judge the color better.

Photo #2 demonstrates the folding flaw I mentioned earlier. I just grabbed a side of the table to move it, and you see how it folds in the middle causing anything on top of it to slide or fall.

Photo #3 shows how the table opens from the folded position: first lift the two side of the top and then slide them together. As they slide the legs automatically extend.

This table works well when space is limited, and I have enjoyed using on my deck. If had a latch to stabilize the open top position it would have been perfect. As it stands now it gets a 4 star rating: good but not perfect.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Mobile App Review: Accuweather, Free App (7.7 Samsung Galaxy, Android)

I regularly use two weather apps: The Weather Channel and Accuweather.I like The Weather Channel better as a mobile app, but the two apps often give slightly different forecasts and I find it helpful to have both pieces of information. The Weather Channel tends to be more optimistic, Accuweather is more likely to forecast rain. The Weather Channel app is a well designed app that scales to the screen size of your device (I use 7.7 Galaxy tablet), where as Accuweather is designed for a smaller screen of the phone. It does not scale and does not respond to zoom gestures. Thus the font (grey on black) is hard to read. The icon for 10 day forecast is not descriptive, located by itself, and was so hard to find that I was about to give up when I accidentally stumbled onto it.

I used it on 7.7 Samsung Galaxy Tablet (my Galaxy 7.7 review) running Android Honeycomb with no technical problems.

Overall, I like The Weather Channel app a lot more, but when it really matters I check both Accuweather and The Weather Channel.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

You can find reviews of other mobile apps I use under Blog Label "Galaxy 7.7 Tablet" on the left navigation pane of the blog.

Mobile App Review: Temple Run, Free App (7.7 Samsung Galaxy, Android)

Beautiful graphics, fun action.  The main character of the game is on the run, your job is to keep him running over the obstacles. You control the game by swiping in different directions to turn, tapping the screen to jump, swiping down to slide, and so forth. The game starts with a tutorial which is pretty good teaching you the available actions. As you run you collect coins and buy power-ups. I am enjoying this game. 

Warming to parents: This app lets you purchase additional content using actual money.  This can be disallowed using parental controls to require Amazon account password for any in-app purchases before the purchase is completed.

This app works well on my Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet (my Galaxy 7.7 review) running Android HoneyComb 3.2. I had no technical problems and the app scales to my screen size very nicely.

This app is free from Amazon Android Store and
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

You can find reviews of other mobile apps I use under Blog Label "Galaxy 7.7 Tablet" on the left navigation pane of the blog.

Product review: Arrow Hanger AH12/R Instahanger Clothes Hanging System Outdoor Indoor Cloth Hanger

I like drying some delicates outdoors, drying outdoors makes them smell so nice! Before I purchased this hanger I would need to get my drying rack onto the deck and then put it away when things were dry. With this hanger it is much easier and just as effective for my purposes.

I am attaching a collage of 5 pictures.

Photo#1 shows a close up of the hanger extended with the hanger on it. It is sturdy and easily supports several cloth hangers.
Photo#2 shows a closed hanger when it is not in use. It is slim and practically invisible.

I was very impressed with the assembly instructions that came with the hanger. Not only were they clear about small details, they also included a paper template which allows you to mark the screw positions very easily.

Photo#2 Shows the assembly of the hanger. The two parts come apart easily when the metal support is slid out of the notch. You can see the notch in photo #1, which shows the hanger open. It is towards the top, on the right hand side of the main slid.

Photo#4 has a ruler next to metal support and shows that the metal support arm is 13.5" long.

Photo#5 has a ruler next to hanger when it is closed and shows that it is 17.5" long. It is 2.5" wide.

For easy mounting I separated the two parts of the hanger. Then I found the stud, marked screw locations with the paper template, and drilled the pilot holes for the screws. Then I drilled in the screws half way working only with the bottom part of the hanger. When I had about 1/4 of inch clearance left, I snapped in the second half of the hanger and tightened the top screw. Then I tightened the bottom screw. After that I slid the metal back through the notch. I am not the handiest person around yet this whole process took about 10 minutes (most of it was measuring and making sure the hanger was in the comfortable position to reach).

To dry things outside I use a nifty hanger that automatically locks after you hang it, so the wind has no change of blowing off the hanger. You can find this nifty hanger on Amazon by following this link.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


I have been using the hanger for several weeks and I am very pleased with it. It is well designed, unobtrusive and does exactly what I needed it for.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Mobile App Review: MeTetris, Free App (7.7 Samsung Galaxy, Android)

Tetris is one of my favorites on a computer so when I got my tablet I began looking for a Tetris-like game for my tablet.

MeTetris is one of the apps I evaluated. It starts by display a black and white grid. You can flip the falling blocks by tapping on the screen and move them left and right by swiping the screen.
However MeTetris is missing one critical feature: there is no way to drop the brick when it is in the orientation you want it to be. Thus it takes much longer to play in the early parts of the game when the game is simple. It takes a long time to get through the simple stages of the game and I found I am too impatient to play it.

This app works fine on my Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet (my Galaxy 7.7 review) running Android HoneyComb 3.2. I had no technical problems and the app scales to my screen size very nicely.

I did not stick with MeTetris in the long run. I settled on Tetriblox. This game has sleek graphics, fine controls, and you can drop blocks to speed through the easy rounds.

Tetriblox is a free app from Amazon Android Store.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

You can find reviews of mobile apps I use under Blog Label "Galaxy 7.7 Tablet" on the left navigation pane of the blog.

Mobile App Review: Simple Calculator, Free App (7.7 Samsung Galaxy, Android)

If you are looking for a simple calculator with easy to use interface this one is for you. This application is beautiful in its simplicity.

The interface is simple buttons just like you see in the stock photo. There are no other screens or options. You can subtract, add, multiply and divide.
The display font and buttons are big and clear. The only exception is the divide operator looks more like a comma, it is much smaller than a multiply operator located next to it. But once you know this, it is not a big deal.

This app works well on my Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet (my Galaxy 7.7 review) running Android HoneyComb 3.2. I had no technical problems and the app scales to my screen size very nicely..

When I need to do some simple calculations, this is the calculator I use!

This app is free from Amazon Android Store and
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

You can find reviews of other mobile apps I use under Blog Label "Galaxy 7.7 Tablet" on the left navigation pane of the blog.