Android App Pick - AirDroid
Application: AirDroid
One of the best things about current mobile devices is how powerful they are. There is so much that a smartphone can do and the processing power that fits in your pocket these days is amazing. When you're sitting at your computer with a good keyboard, mouse and a larger screen in front of you, it is a bit inconvenient to have to always pull out your phone to check messages, contacts, calendars and more. That's where a great App like AirDroid comes in. AirDroid allows you to hook up your phone wirelessly to you computer and allows remote messaging, file transfers, contact management, and other things including remote (4G access) as well as access over WiFi. While this has been done before a few times, AirDroid takes it to the next level with a great interface, awesome functionality and they do this all for free.
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Main (Pre-Connect) |
Accept |
Connected |
When you fire up AirDroid it will have you create an account so you can access your phone over the web as well as for security purposes. When you open a web page to either the WiFi IP given by your router, or the AirDroid website, you'll have to tap "Accept" on your phone to complete the connection. This is done so that people can be creepy and access your device if they figure out your password. AirDroid provides things like remote camera viewing and image downloading, so the last thing I want is anyone actually taking pictures from my phone without me knowing. This "2nd Layer" authentication is great.
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Settings |
Tools |
The interesting thing about the AirDroid App is that it's not really an App that you use on your phone. Yes, there are some settings and tools available, but most of these actually take you to the Android Settings page where you can enable network stuff as well as tether your device. The magic really is on the web interface that your device is hosting.
Once you point your browser to the IP shown when you fired up AirDroid, you can do things like manage ringtones, take pictures from your phone's camera, download, play and upload music as well as manage files, check call logs and even send SMS from your device. I love all of these features for different reasons, but the best thing is that I can do it all without touching my phone. You can do much more with this amazing App and it is worth checking out if you want more productivity and convenience from your phone and don't want to have to squint to see everything on the small screen.
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Upload Music |
Send/Receive SMS |
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