Happy Holidays from the Enterprise Bridge!

With the big day coming up tomorrow, I just wanted to wish all of you out there in cyberspace a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! This is my final post for the year, so a huge thank you for dropping by and checking out my blog! If you like what you see here, please take a moment to share this site with your friends and help me build up that reader base :-)

Enjoy the holiday, stay safe out there, and see you all in the new year!

LG840G: a solid semi-smartphone from Tracfone Wireless

Looking for a solid, inexpensive phone, but don't want to deal with those pesky contracts? Tracfone has you covered.

Although the LG840G is far from being a new device, it's the latest in Tracfone's efforts to modernize their phone selection. A bit of a cross between a standard feature phone and a (very) low-end smart phone, the 840G packs some interesting features that puts it above all others in Tracfone's lineup. Like one YouTube reviewer put it, "this phone is the leading edge of the trailing edge of cell phone technology."

Costing just under $20 USD reconditioned (or up to $60 USD new), the 840G features a 3.2-inch compacitive touchscreen, 3G/wi-fi connectivity, Bluetooth capability, a 2 GB micro-SD card, and triple minutes for life.

Update: at the time of this writing, the 840G was the best Tracfone had to offer. Very recently, they made available two full-fledged Android smartphones, the ZTE Valet ($99.99 USD) and the Samsung Galaxy Centura ($129.99 USD). Other newly-released smartphones, such as the LG Optimus, are only available through select online retailers such as QVC or HSN. I was wondering when Tracfone would start releasing 'real' phones -- I guess I have my answer...

Appearance & Build Quality
The 840G is definitely one of the more solid Tracfones I've used. It's somewhat heavier than the 800G, but only slightly larger in dimensions. In contrast to the 800G's rounded corners (which make the phone fit nicely in the hand), the 840G is much more rectangular with 'sharp' edges. The battery cover is made of a cheaper plastic and snaps (rather than slides) into place. Even so, after being locked into place, it doesn't at all feel flimsy and can't easily pop off.

There are only two physical buttons, the volume rocker switch (left side), and the power/lock button (top). A standard 3.5 mm headphone jack is also on the top of the phone, with the charging port on the bottom. The 840G really does look and feel like a small smartphone, and could easily pass for one at a distance.

The Screen
The compacitive touchscreen is light-years ahead of the resistive display on the 800G. It's much more responsive and can be used with a light touch. Considering the screen's low resolution, the display is bright, clear, and easy to read. The overall larger display allows for much easier use of the on-screen QWERTY keyboard, although people with big fingers may still have trouble.

The Camera
The 840G's camera is a fairly standard low-end camera phone, maxing out at 2 megapixels. It's not a great 2 megapixels at that, but it works fine as a backup or I-don't-have-a-real-camera camera. It doesn't appear to be as sensitive to movement as the 800G's camera is -- the 800G camera would constantly blur with the slightest movement. I've yet to test the phone's video capability.

Internet Connectivity
The 840G is the first Tracfone to come equipped with both 3G and wi-fi internet. This puts the 840G into the realm of 'semi-smartphone'. Is it a good web-surfing platform? Not really, but for the basics, it works fine.

Wi-fi access is totally free, but surfing at 3G speeds will quickly eat up your airtime. The included web browser is pretty basic and doesn't handle complex sites very well. This can be remedied by installing Opera Mini, a portable version of the Opera desktop web browser.

The phone also comes with an email client, but I haven't had any luck getting it to work properly. On the other hand, the generic social networking app seems to work fine for Facebook, and even allows for photo uploads. If that's not enough, the phone supports most Java-based apps.

Battery Life
Under light use, the phone will last about a a week before the battery dies. Beware that if wi-fi is turned on, the battery will drain in half that time. Also keep in mind that when the battery is low, the phone doesn't give much warning, so charging proactively is probably a good idea.

Operating System
Althouth the 840G looks like an Android smartphone, it runs a stock LG phone operating system, featuring three home screens (contacts, widgets, & app shortcuts) and an app tray. It's very similar to the one on the 800G, but with some marked improvements. Overall, the OS is very easy to navigate, especially for former 800G users. Even Android users will (more-or-less) feel right at home. Needless to say, it's not nearly as flashy as Android or iOS, but it's solid and functional.

If you're looking for a cheap phone that does all the basics plus a few extras, check out the LG840G. It may not be cutting edge, but it's more than sufficient for any Tracfone user.

Europa Report: a highly-satisfying, slow-building space thriller

"Fear. Sacrifice. Contact."

The near-future. A privately-funded, international team of astronauts set off on a mission to search for life on Europa, Jupiter's largest moon. Despite a systems failure that leaves the spacecraft out of communication with Earth, the mission goes on, leading to a surprising discovery. But at what cost?

Told in found-footage style, the film is a pretty convincing look at what a real-life, deep space mission might look like. To my knowledge, this is the first movie to capitalize on the possibility of life on Europa, something that's long been believed but never confirmed. Is Europa Report a bit science-heavy? Yes. Is it slow-moving? Yes. Is it a horror movie about evil aliens on a distant world? Most definitely not. Instead, Europa Report is more of a chilling 'what-if' film that leaves you wondering about the possibilities.

Almost all the footage is shot using wall-mounted or hand-held cameras, interspersed with earth-based scenes of scientists later analyzing the mission. This aspect really adds to the movie's feeling of 'authenticity', since no real space mission has room for a full-fledged camera crew. In true found-footage style, Europa Report doesn't really feel like a movie, but instead like a collection of roughly-edited clips from the ship's data recorders chronicling the mission. It's not fancy, but it gets the job done.

Despite the movie's modest budget, the special effects are more than adequate. The visuals aren't quite on-par with other sci-fi films that have come out recently, but fit the context of this movie well. It's nice to see a movie that's not so heavily reliant on special effects for a change -- that's obviously a major trend lately, but would have ruined the 'feel' of the film had it been done that way.

Verdict: Europa Report is a very well done and scientifically intriguing movie, much more so than what I was expecting from a (fairly) low-budget production. It's especially worth checking out for those of you who want to put the 'science back in science fiction', or are looking for a more realistic portrayal of near-future space exploration. In addition, fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact will feel right at home with the movie's pace and feel.

I'd love to see something like this happen for real someday, but for now, we'll all just have to settle for films like Europa Report. Don't miss it!

Ender's Game: a worthy adaptation of a classic tale?

"This is not a game."

Set a century in the future, an unusually brilliant young man, Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin, is recruited and trained to lead Earth space forces in a final battle against an alien race.

For those of you unaware, Ender's Game is based on the 1984 military sci-fi novel of the same name by author Orson Scott Card. The highly-successful book spawned several sequels following Ender's later exploits as an adult. These dealt with the ramifications of Ender's actions in the original novel and his taking on the role of 'speaker for the dead'. I was originally introduced to the series by my seventh grade English teacher, and after a pretty long hiatus, I started re-reading them in anticipation of this movie. If you're looking for something new to read with really well-developed characters and a highly-engaging story, check out this series.

As far as book adaptations go, Ender's Game is surprisingly close to its source material -- it probably helped that the original author co-produced the film, but even so, it's unusual to find 'good' adaptations of even the best novels. For example, for those of you familiar with Burroughs' classic novel A Princess of Mars and it's recent Disney film adaptation, you know what I mean.

As close an adaptation as it is, Enter's Game does condense the plot considerably to fit a two-hour window, but manages to do so without loosing too much of the original story. I'm pleased to say, though, that in the process of condensing, few plot details where altered to fit the faster-paced story. The only major tradeoff is a story that feels a bit rushed and forced at times.

Aspects of the story such as Ender's time at the Battle School is (somewhat) glossed over in favor of focusing on the latter half of the novel. Other elements, like Ender's empathy for the alien queen and his relationship with Valentine, are only touched on. The book's Earth-based sub-plot involving Valentine and Peter's political writing endeavors and Peter's rise to power are completely absent. There are others, but suffice to say, it's impossible to fit a few hundred pages worth of material into a one two-hour movie. Overall, the producers did a decent job of finding compromise.

Like many sci-fi movies this year, Ender's Game is pretty special effects-heavy. Although the story involves very little space travel, much of the computer technology talked about in the book was updated for a 21st century audience and looks quite stunning. The film, for instance, replaces references to dots on a radar screen (in the simulator scenes) to completely immersive holographic displays controlled by hand movement. This was clearly an excuse to show off cool starship designs and space combat, but I'm definitely not complaining. It's unfortunate this movie wasn't released in 3-D since the visuals could have benefited from it.

If you're looking for a sci-fi action film, Ender's Game probably isn't for you. On the other hand, if you're a fan of the book series or like military sci-fi films, definitely check out this movie. It's taken nearly 30 years, but we finally have a fairly solid, big-screen adaptation of this classic tale and a good sci-fi film in its own right.

Happy Halloween from The Enterprise Bridge!

In honor of Halloween, journey to a distant planet full witches, black cats, and haunted castles. No, it's not an episode of Scooby Doo, but Trek's 'Catspaw'.

The first episode of season two produced, the show didn't air until October 27th, just four days before Halloween (1967). Besides being Trek's only holiday-themed show, it was notable for being the first episode filmed after Walter Koenig joined the cast as Russian navigator Chekov. In addition, 'Catspaw' was the first to include DeForest Kelly (McCoy) in the opening credits and also changed the fonts of the title card and closing credits to match that of the opening credits.

Although not a very good episode by any account, it's a fun one to watch for some light Halloween entertainment. Watch the original version (not remastered) here on the official Star Trek site.

Have a safe and happy Halloween, folks!

Tech Tutorial: Installing Opera Mini on the LG840G

Opera Mini is a portable version of the Opera desktop web browser designed to run on mobile devices. In this tech tutorial, we're going to spruce up the LG840G Tracfone (full review to follow) with a browser upgrade, making the phone's 3G/wi-fi connectivity a bit more practical to use. We'll also disable the annoying Java keypad, which, by default, takes up half the screen and just gets in the way.

Keep in mind that even with this upgrade, browsing on the 840G is far from ideal. It works well for what it is, but isn't a replacement for a tablet or other 'true' mobile device. Opera runs fine, but does lag a bit.

I've found that the easiest way to get Opera up and running is to download it on a desktop PC, edit the config file to disable the keypad, and then transfer the file to your phone.

Part 1: Download & Modify the Opera Mini installer

• On a desktop PC, go to the Opera website and download the latest version of the browser (at the time of this writing, version 7.1). The installer will be a .jar file archive/executable.

• Now it's time to disable the Java keypad. Open the archive using your favorite zip file extractor, such as 7-Zip. Assuming you're using 7-Zip, right click > 7-Zip > Open Archive.

• Locate the META-INF folder and double click on it. Within the folder, right click on the file META-MF > Edit. The META-MF file will open in your default text editor, such as Notepad.

• Copy and paste the following below the existing lines of code:
• Nokia-MIDlet-No-Exit: true
  Nokia-MIDlet-On-Screen-Keypad: no
  Navi-Key-Hidden: true
  UseNativeTextButtons: hide
  ReverseSoftkeys: hide
  UseNativeCommands: hide
  MIDlet-Touch-Support: true
  MIDlet-ScreenMode: ROTATE
  MIDlet-Landscape-Support: true
  LGE-MIDlet-Width: 240
  LGE-MIDlet-Height: 400
  LGE-MIDlet-On-Screen-Keypad: no
  LGE-MIDlet-Display-Mode: both

• Click File > Save and then close the window.

• 7-Zip will ask if you wish to modify the archive with your changes. Click 'Yes' and close the 7-Zip window.

Part 2: Install Opera Mini on the 840G

• Connect the 840G to your computer using a standard micro-USB data cable (keep in mind that a micro-SD card must be installed to do this). 

• The phone will ask you if you wand to 'connect as mass storage'. Tap 'OK'. The phone will now display 'Connected as Mass Storage Mode'.

• On your PC, locate your phone under 'Computer' or  'My Computer' -- it will show up as a removable storage device.

• Copy the modified Opera Mini installer to your phone's memory. Note it does not have to be placed in any of the existing folders.

• On the phone, tap 'Exit' and then disconnect the cable. The phone will display 'waiting' until cable is unplugged.

• Open the 840G's File Manager (found on the second page of the apps tray) and locate the Opera installer under the memory card tab. Tap to launch.

• The phone will display 'Untrusted Midlet'. Tap 'Continue'.

• At the next screen (displaying information about Opera Mini), click 'Download' to begin the installation.

• Opera Mini will then install, which should only take a few seconds. At the 'Download Completed' window, tap 'Launch Now' (if your wireless is not enabled, the phone will automatically connect via 3G and use airtime).

• Opera Mini, sans the Java keypad, can now be found under 'Games & Apps'. For quick access, add 'Games & Apps' to your shortcuts home screen (unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to make a dedicated shortcut).

With a few other adjustments (such as setting the browser to both landscape and fullscreen modes), Opera Mini works well on the 840G for basic web access. I mainly use it to check email since the phone's built-in client doesn't seem to work. My only real complaint is the on-screen keyboard has very small buttons, making typing anything quite tedious. My suggestion: take advantage of bookmarks.

Interested in installing other Java-based apps? It's as simple as downloading the file on your PC and copying it to the phone's memory (or downloading the app on the phone itself). Then, simply launch the installer. Any installed apps will appear under 'Games & Apps'.

I hope you've found this quick tutorial useful in getting Opera Mini setup on your LG840G Tracfone. Happy web browsing!

Realism and space drama collide in Cuarón's 'Gravity'

"Don't let go."

Gravity has been praised ever since it's initial release, and rightly so. It's difficult to tell from the trailer what the movie's about, but in retrospect, the trailer does say it all. What do you do if a disaster leaves you stranded with no hope of rescue?

The near future. A shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope goes terribly wrong when a massive, fast-moving debris field destroys both spacecraft and everything else in its path. The two surviving astronauts, a rookie mission specialist (Bullock) and a veteran mission commander (Clooney), must mount their own rescue or face imminent death in the cold vacuum of space.

The plot of the movie is a classic survival story about rising above adversity. Because of this, Gravity really isn't an action film, but when things do get exciting, they do so very rapidly and on a big scale. Bullock's character is clearly not ready to deal with the situation she's facing, yet she must since failure really isn't an option. Like other survival movies, the characters perform one dangerous maneuver after another to reach their ultimate goal of getting home. This aspect of the plot provides some decent character development, giving Bullock some backstory to help explain why she's acting the way she is.

One of the film's most-discussed aspects is its realism. In short, it's pretty close to the real thing, much more so than most Hollywood space disaster movies. Are there issues with the science and physics? Of course. The producers went to great lengths to get the majority of the details right, from astronaut jargon to physics, but also had to take creative liberties to sustain the story. It's rare to find movies that aim for realism, especially in a sci-fi setting such as this, so kudos to the producers for getting that right.

The visuals are simply extraordinary, especially in 3D. Much like Avatar, Gravity utilized a huge amount of CG to create the world our two surviving astronauts float around in, and had to develop revolutionary new techniques to do it (for example, in many shots, only the faces of the actors are real). This adds quite a bit to the film's sense of realism, since nothing looks, well, fake. It's one of those films that you can't truly appreciate unless you've seen it on the big screen of a movie theater.

If you're looking for a breath-taking space drama that's a bit closer to home, check out Gravity. Just don't watch it as your in-flight movie to the International Space Station :-)