Remote Desktop Apps?

[SoftwareForMe.com]

yeah, you figured out what i meant. So it is nowhere near as bad as normal quality youtube videos? The reason i'm asking is that i really want to purchase this app but will not be doing so if the streams are pixelated like Orb/youtube.

Hi,

PhoneMyPC's video display is compressed pixel data. The compression is not quite as efficient as standard video encoding, because we don't have the luxury of fixed size for differentials, etc.

However, the visual quality can be set by you at five levels. Assuming "Highest" as a baseline:

Lowest: about 1/4 as much data--fast, but fuzzy
Low: about 1/3 as much data--quick, but fuzzy
Midium: about 1/2 as much data--good, but text and such look a bit fuzzy
High: about 2/3 as much data--clear, but some artifacts visible if you look
Highest: 1:1 -- very clear.

Still, in order to support the best experience, even Highest is compressed, but the visual quality is very good.

The reason for so many settings is this: a gigantic screen (like the Droid's), watching a video, can consume many Mb/s, yet no 3G connection can handle that speed today. So, it will lag. Internet direct-connect (per our website) is better, WIFI-direct is best.

In the end, you can let the program choose what it thinks is the most appropriate quality for most people, and adjust lower (for speed) or higher (for quality) as you like. You can also set the defaults to a specific value in the Preferences, if you find yourself always adjusting them up or down.

The best news is that the Android Market gives you an explicit 24 hour trial period, so you can download and give it a try. If it's not right for you, simply return to the Android Market and click the Return button; you won't be charged.

Last, if you find issues, please email us; we're always working to make our software better, and we use your feedback to decide exactly how to do that.

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMyPC

 

[BeefyBeefo]

This software keeps sounding better and better. If I had a Droid, I would have this software first. :icon_ banana:

 

[uptheforest]

went ahead and downloaded it and i have to say, this is pretty impressive!! You tube videos look excellent but do lag a little bit. I do appreciate the response, though.

Will probably end up keeping this seeing that i can edit anything and everything on my pc via phone so i will be saving money by not buying documents to go!

Well worth the $10 and I'd definitely put this in the must have apps category!

 

[mike]

I can't stand to see a good question go unanswered, Danny.

I can't speak specifically for RDP Demo, but I can tell you about the RDP apps in general.

RDP stands for Remote Desktop Protocol. It's a protocol developed by Microsoft to support their Remote Assistance technology and Remote Desktop features. All Pro versions of Windows come with the software pre-installed.

The protocol is designed to "remote" the user interface as efficiently as possible. To do this, it sends vector graphics (commands that draw stuff, rather than the pixels the stuff is made up of) to the client, where it is rendered much like it would have been on the PC.

So, RDP implementations in general provide a full-featured PC remote control experience, letting you see the PC screen on the remote device, and giving full control over the mouse and keyboard.

RDP is not available in Home versions of windows. It is available as a 3rd party application for some Linux distro's.

VNC is a very similar program, but since it is not built into the operating system, you have to install an app on the PC. VNC differs from RDP in that it sends actual pixel data from the screen, so it's generally not as efficient.

RDP has the potential to provide the fastest user experience because of how it sends graphics. However, it also often suffers from quality issues because it may decrease color depth and remove some graphics in order to improve performance.

RDP and VNC both have one drawback in common: they are "point to point" protocols, so they're best for network-savy users. To make them work, you must configure the phone with the host name or IP address of the PC so that the phone can connect to the PC. This is often not possible in corporate environments because of firewalls, and even at home it can be a nuisance because your ISP is likely to change your IP address from time to time.

Our product, PhoneMyPC, is very similar to GoToMyPC or LogMeIn, in that it is a hosted service and "just works" without any special configuration. It also works perfectly in corporate environments.

PhoneMyPC uses a technology most similar to VNC, in that we send actual graphics data, so there are cases where RDP would provide better performance. However, we chose the technology we did because bandwidth availability is steadily increasing, and we wanted to provide the best visual experience possible. What you see on the phone is exactly what you would see on the PC; no compromises.

PhoneMyPC is also the only remote application (in fact, the only Android application, that we know of) to support multi-touch zooming since Android 1.0.

Cheers!
The PhoneMyPC Team
SoftwareForMe.com

Thank you very much! I've been hoping like crazy for an Android Logmein app - now I don't need it. Your product, which I just bought, works very well. Question: will I need to pay more when the program goes out of beta? Another question: how do you right-click?

For the rest of you guys:

THIS PROGRAM UTILIZES PINCH ZOOM!!!!!!

YEEE HAW

 

[mike]

I am using PhonemyPC virtually non-stop. It really does an amazing job of letting me experience my destop computer in effect as my Droid interface. The developers say that the sound is coming soon. When the happens this product will be complete. Now, you can watch videos on cnn and other places, which the Droid's browser doesn't allow presently.

I plan to use it Sunday, accessing my desktop, showing my DirectTv computer access to any NFL game which I choose (it's something DirecTv does with the slingbox company). Even without the sound that will be just wonderful for me... because I can watch football games without sound. When the PhonemyPC people get that sound going... my goodness, this will be the ultimate killer app.

No kidding.

 

[Mach1Club]

Man any chance of getting a step by step on this PhoneMyPC program for the Motorola Droid, Im reading this thread and see Ive got a long way to go on the learning curve, been stuck on a Blackberry to long so Im lost.

So am I correct in saying if I want to connect with my Droid to my home computer and add MP3 files or anything else to my droid PhoneMyPC will do this for me?

Im sure a step by step from one of you geniuses would be appreciated by many to come!

Also what are the security issues if any?

 

[SoftwareForMe.com]

Hi Mach1Club,

No. PhoneMyPC does not support file copy at this time, or sound.

What it does do is let you see and control your PC through your phone, from anyplace.

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMyPC

 

[Mach1Club]

Got any suggestions for being able to connect to my home computer from my droid from anywhere in the usa? Thanks for the update.

 

[Budman17r]

Man any chance of getting a step by step on this PhoneMyPC program for the Motorola Droid, Im reading this thread and see Ive got a long way to go on the learning curve, been stuck on a Blackberry to long so Im lost.

So am I correct in saying if I want to connect with my Droid to my home computer and add MP3 files or anything else to my droid PhoneMyPC will do this for me?

Im sure a step by step from one of you geniuses would be appreciated by many to come!

Also what are the security issues if any?

I am not sure how helpful this would be it was pretty easy to setup.

Install on phone
Install on Computer

On phone go to the menu and settings Put a username/pass.
On computer Right click the icon in the notification area (near time)
Put in SAME username/pass. And Computer name.

Close the program on the droid, and reopen (after hitting ok on the PC version)

Tadaa.

I returned the program waiting for logmein. 9.99 seemed excessive as well It was nice (It was hard to click on things in the phone however even zoomed in.

 

[SoftwareForMe.com]

...It was hard to click on things in the phone however even zoomed in.

Did you try "Full Cursor Mode"?

Using your finger in pan/zoom mode can be tough, unless you zoom in a bit.

But, if you press your Search button, a mouse cursor appears that you can move with your finger. It is much more accurate, and we'll be adding zoom to this mode (2-finger) in a near-term release.

Also about sensitivity: given the different densities of the screens, we're adding preferences for speed and sensitivity of pan and cursor movement.

Thanks for sharing your feedback! This is the stuff that helps us make the software better!

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMyPC

P.S. FYI About LogMeIn. I too use this on my PC's. However, their software will never be as feature-rich as PhoneMyPC will be, it costs $29.99 on the iPhone App Store, and ex-iPhone users we've spoken to said it had memory problems and took too long to log-in.

 

[silenceforus]

I purchased phonemypc last nigjt, couldn't get it to authorize, and emailed the company. They replied rapidly. I had the program this morning, and ive. Played with it a bit.

Its amazing. Coolest app on my droid. I can access my laptop anywhere is long as its hooked up to the net, I use my laptop. As a media center hooked up to my tv and there's a mode that allows you to just use your screen us a touch mouse pad type thing and control it like a wireless mouse or keyboard would.

The posibillities are endless with this thing. Ill never have to worry that I left something on my other computer as long as its on the net, I can just log in and email it to myself or whatever.

The pinch zoom is gorgeous, the search button and direct mouse control feature makes accuracy not an issue

I will be able to do presentations and use my phone as the clicker. Its an awesome app. Easily worth the 10 spot

 

[BeefyBeefo]

This software keeps sounding better and better. If I had a Droid, I would have this software first. :icon_ banana:

I'm a man of my word. I got an early upgrade and this is my first software purchase. So far? AWESOME! :icon_ banana: I will post some further thoughts after using it for a week or two.

The great reviews in the Marketplace and around this forum combined with the customer service makes for an excellent product. Customer service is one thing I'm a stickler about, and I thank you for providing excellent service. :icon_ banana::motdroidvert:

 

[Corinacakes]

RemoteDroid works pretty nicely and I love the price tag, FREE :icon_ banana:

if you only new how incredible this phonemypc is you'd crap!!! it's worth double!!!

 

[smolander]

I saw the post on firewall settings, so I'm comfortable my pc could become accessible.

However, my pc is set up to go into sleep mode. The user remains logged in, but needs to authenticate to restore the desktop.

Will I be able to connect to my pc in sleep mode? Then authenticate as a user on that workstation?

If the answers are yes, then I will be buying this app today. Many times I need a file on my home/work computer. This way I could open a mail session and email the file to my work computer / Droid. Now THAT would be really cool.

 

[BzB]

Will I be able to connect to my pc in sleep mode? Then authenticate as a user on that workstation?

if your computer is in sleep mode it will need physical prompt, like pushing the power button, to 'wake up'. no remote access program will do that for you.

if you leave your computer powered up, but lock the desktop which requires authentication to unlock it, then phonemypc will not work in it's current version. in this case you're better off with one of the rdp apps that can connect to your computer and allow you to log in using windows credentials.