It's easy to disable several in-game options for Boulder Crash on the Kindle Fire

So, I’ve been playing a lot of Boulder Crash for the Kindle Fire lately.

The game is pretty funny, and certainly worth a download if you are nostalgic for Dig Dug.  The game kind of reminds me of those old table top Atari games that I spent a lot of my youth playing.

I do have a minor complaint, however.

The game uses four arrows in the bottom left hand corner of the screen to move your character around during the game.

If you happen to press two of these arrows simultaneously (which actually happened to me during the course of regular game play, as I laid my thumb over the area of the arrows) the restart, pause, music control, sound effects and menu options at the bottom of the screen stop working!

You can’t pause the game or turn off the music!

Steps:

1.        Download the fun game Boulder Crash for the Kindle Fire

2.       Enter into game play

3.       In the bottom left hand corner of the screen, you’ll see four arrows

4.       Tap the up arrow and the down arrow a couple times, simultaneously

Result:  Pressing the up and down directional arrows at the same time turns off the functionality of various in-game options (including pause, restart, music and sound effects, etc.) in the game Boulder Crash for the Kindle Fire

Expected:  I except that nothing will disable the pause, restart, music and sound effects of the game Boulder Crash

Note:  As I said, I somehow found this during the course of regular game play.

Download Boulder Crash for the Kindle Fire.

As you can see, there are 4 arrows in the bottom left than control movement for your character.  There are also options of the bottom of the screen to restart and pause the game.  Plus options to toggle the music and sound effects off and on.  Try those options out, they all work...

It takes a little clumsiness, but i've gotten with my thumb.  If you press two of the directional arrows at the same time, it turns off the restart/pause and music/sound effect buttons.

The pause button doesn't work, and I can't turn off the music!  This state last even after your character dies.

yikes! On the Kindle Fire

Date: 01/06/2013

Description:

I'm not going to go on a metaphysical examination here, I just have a single question/complaint.

I've started using the note feature on the Kindle Fire more and more.  I don't usually anything profound to say about a particular passage, I usually just want to note something that struck my interest about a particular passage as I was reading it.

One thing that's confusing me is the auto-spell feature.  I understand what it is, and the basics of what it tries to do.  I've also made a conscious decision at this point to not disable, even though I know that it is possible to do so.

Still, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why the Kindle Fire auto-corrects the work "yikes!" to "hikes".

I would never, ever, write the "yikes" without accompanying it with an exclamation point.  When I add the exclamation point to "yikes" it changes it "hikes"

What's the point of that?

Repro Steps:
1.  With the auto-spell feature enabled, open up a book on the Kindle Fire
2.  Highlight a passage in the opened text
3.  Select "Note"
4.  Type (in all lowercase) the word "yikes"
5.  Add an exclamation point to the end of "yikes"

Result:  On a Kindle Fire, with the auto-spell feature enabled, when I add an exclamation point to the end of word "yikes", the auto-spell feature automatically changes it to "hikes"

Expected:  I don't expect the term "yikes!" to be automatically auto-corrected to "hikes", even if the auto-spell feature is enabled.  I don't understand the point of this

Note:  I know that I can save "yikes" by holding the word down, but this feature of the Kindle Fire is not intuitive.

I have the quick fixes feature enabled.  I don't personally like changing the default settings on gadgets.

I highlight a passage in a text.  I select "Note".

In all lowercase, I type in "yikes", a shorthand word I always use to make me remember something of interest.  I almost always write the word "yikes" in all lowercase, and I always put an exclamation point after the word.  When I add an exclamation point after "yikes"....

The Kindle Fire auto-corrects it to "hikes!".  Why, as a reader, who I want to shout "hikes!" after reading a passage from a book?