Android By Lee Mathews Apr. 17, 2014 12:30 pm
Google has done it again. They’ve released yet another awesome free app that offers the same kind of functionality you find in some seriously expensive ones: Chrome Remote Desktop for Android.
To use the new app, you just need to have the Chrome browser installed on your computer and you’ll need the Chrome Remote Desktop app from the Web Store. Once you’ve added it to Chrome and enabled remote connections, you don’t need to leave the browser open just to take control from your Android device. As long as your computer isn’t asleep or turned off, Chrome’s background process will detect the request and let you take the wheel from your mobile device.
Fire up the Android app and you’ll instantly see a list of the systems you have access to. It’ll show any system that you’ve signed into with your Google account that you’ve enabled Remote Desktop on — you don’t need to remember any lengthy numeric IDs.
Before you get too excited, know this: Chrome Remote Desktop isn’t going to allow you to do things like play the games in your Steam library on your phone or tablet while you’re riding to work on the train. Even when you’re using it on the same network as the computer you’re accessing, there’s enough latency that you’ll notice it. Even a fairly basic game like Terraria (yes, I had to try) isn’t playable.
It’s certainly not anything worth complaining about if you’re using Chrome Remote Desktop to do things like move files around or email yourself something that you forgot to copy onto your thumb drive before leaving the house. Google’s new app is every bit as capable of handling tasks like that as many of the paid remote control apps out there such as Teamviewer or Splashtop.
If you’re a Chrome user with an Android phone or tablet, you may as well install the new Remote Desktop app. You may only ever need to use it once, but when you do need it… you’ll really appreciate the fact that Google is giving it away for free.
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To use the new app, you just need to have the Chrome browser installed on your computer and you’ll need the Chrome Remote Desktop app from the Web Store. Once you’ve added it to Chrome and enabled remote connections, you don’t need to leave the browser open just to take control from your Android device. As long as your computer isn’t asleep or turned off, Chrome’s background process will detect the request and let you take the wheel from your mobile device.
Fire up the Android app and you’ll instantly see a list of the systems you have access to. It’ll show any system that you’ve signed into with your Google account that you’ve enabled Remote Desktop on — you don’t need to remember any lengthy numeric IDs.
Before you get too excited, know this: Chrome Remote Desktop isn’t going to allow you to do things like play the games in your Steam library on your phone or tablet while you’re riding to work on the train. Even when you’re using it on the same network as the computer you’re accessing, there’s enough latency that you’ll notice it. Even a fairly basic game like Terraria (yes, I had to try) isn’t playable.
It’s certainly not anything worth complaining about if you’re using Chrome Remote Desktop to do things like move files around or email yourself something that you forgot to copy onto your thumb drive before leaving the house. Google’s new app is every bit as capable of handling tasks like that as many of the paid remote control apps out there such as Teamviewer or Splashtop.
If you’re a Chrome user with an Android phone or tablet, you may as well install the new Remote Desktop app. You may only ever need to use it once, but when you do need it… you’ll really appreciate the fact that Google is giving it away for free.
More...
