For example, if you connect your computer to a very large TV or monitor, to watch movies or play video games, it would be convenient to use a mouse and a wireless keyboard to control the computer remotely, without being stuck on the screen. If you need to show a presentation or photos to other people, it would be convenient to have a remote control to send the pictures back and forth.
Instead of buying expensive wireless keyboards and mice that download immediately, you can use the touchscreen of an Android phone or an iPhone that becomes a touchpad to move the mouse cursor on the screen .
The phone then becomes a remote control for the computer that allows both to move the mouse and to write on the keyboard .
To perform this magic, you can download a free application for Android called gPad or an iPhone app, always free, called Logitech Touch Mouse.
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On Android, you need to download and install the Remote mouse client application, free on the store.
You must also download the Remotemouse program from the website of and install it on the computer where you want to use the Android phone as a remote control.
Then start the program on Windows and the application on Android to configure the connection.
Remote Mouse allows you to connect mobile phone and PC via USB cable, Bluetooth or WiFi connection .
For the wifi connection, the computer and the phone must be connected to the same network so you need to write the ip address used by the pc in the gPad settings on Android.
Alternatively, you can also use the Scan function which searches for all the computers connected to the network, among which you must select the one with gPad installed.
Once the connection is set up, you can immediately use your mobile phone screen as a touchpad pad to move the computer cursor with your finger .
The Touchpad also has the scrolling area to the side for vertical scrolling of the pages and also the two mouse buttons.
Pressing the menu button on the phone switches to keyboard mode for writing to the computer.
If the smartphone screen supports multi-touch, you can also use it on the Windows touchpad.
You can also add a widget on the main screen if you intend to use this feature often.
gPad also has several default settings to work as a remote control on some specific programs such as Powerpoint, Winamp, iTunes, Windows Media Player, Photoshop, Media Center and some games.
For games the mobile phone becomes like a wireless joypad to play on the computer.
From the Editor section you can create personal rules for other programs and also automate keystrokes.
An alternative Android app that works best is Intel Remote Keyboard to use your smartphone as a mouse and PC keyboard
On iPhone and iPad the application to use is Remote Mouse, free to connect to the computer.
In this case, the connection can only take place via wifi, by installing the Remotemouse program on a PC or Mac.
It supports multi-touch touchpad with option for two or three buttons, two-finger scroll and keyboard.
There is also a text display system when typing.
Always for iPhone and iPad you can also use the free Splashtop Touchpad application for Windows and Mac PCs.
With Splashtop you can use the touchscreen of the iPhone or iPad as a mouse for your computer and control it remotely even by typing on the keyboard.
The configuration is automatic and works via wifi connection.
These applications are incredible in how they work and very easy to configure so I really recommend trying them even if there would be no need.
READ ALSO: iPhone or Android as JoyPad (or joystick) for games on the PC
