Sometimes we need an alternate way of controlling our PCs. Consider any of your hardware input devices (mouse, keyboard, etc.) is out of service and you need to quickly do something with your windows desktop or Mac. Or maybe you just want to control the presentation via your Android device, without using the physical keyboard or mouse. Or probably you want to remotely control mouse/keyboard when lying in bed?
Now it is possible to turn your Android device into a universal remote control. The following is list of Android applications that turn your smartphone/tablet into wireless keyboard, mouse or even joystick! All of these applications require you to install a server software on your PC in order to function as a PC Remote Keyboard and Mouse.
1. Unified Remote
Unified Remote is absolutely the most comprehensive remote control application for PC. It has an intuitive user interface and supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The PRO version has support for NFC and IR actions. Besides the normal mouse & keyboard feature, Unified Remote brings some special features you never find on other remote control apps: 4 language keyboard, quick switch (using swipe gestures), auto-pause media for phone calls, homescreen shortcuts to specific remotes, Wake On LAN, multi-window for Samsung devices, remote file manager, custom remotes, task manager and lots of other specific remotes for specific software (PowerPoint, Chrome, Opera, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center & so many other applications). There even option to easily shutdown, sleep, lock, log off and hibernate the PC with one click.
Unified Remote is currently available for Windows only, it does not support MAC nor Linux, but in their website they have promised to extend to other platforms soon.
2. Remote Mouse
Don’t be fooled with the name, Remote Mouse turns your Android smartphone into a user-friendly remote control – keyboard and touch mouse - for PC & MAC. It supports both portrait and landscape mode and works under Wi-Fi and 3G. The keyboard contains function keys and all other required additional buttons and you can easily trigger combo keys (for example to run task manager CTRL + ALT + DEL). The simulated mouse can easily transfer clicks, double clicks, right click, scroll and drag.
3. WiFi Mouse Pro
Wi-Fi Mouse offers a wireless mouse, trackpad and keyboard for PC, MAC or HTPC. I really love its HD white keyboard UI, it is exactly like a Windows keyboard. The app supports both Windows/MAC hotkeys and combinations keys as well as Speech-to-text input for all languages. Besides the keyboard and mouse, it has some special remotes for controlling media player, explorer and PPT presentations in addition to useful gestures like, pinch zooming, four finger swipe up/down to show desktop or to maximize the current window, two finger scroll, two finger tap for right click, tap and move for drag and more.
4. gPad remote touchpad/keyboard (Not updated in a while)
gPad is a remote control for PC and MAC that works over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB. This application lets you create layouts for all your applications called gPads and lets you share or download new ones. You can use gPad for presentation, media player, game cheat codes or key sequences, graphical software (i.e. Photoshop), Media Center and more.
5. Android Mouse and Keyboard (Not updated in a while)
Android Mouse and Keyboard is just another nice remote control application for Android. It supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and features speech-to-type to make typing easier. It also features a standard keyboard with functions and special keys that can send key combos for special commands. The mouse gestures include: tap click, double tap to double click, two finger scroll and more.
These applications turn your device into functional PC remote keyboard and mouse, if you want to do opposite and make your PC into a remote keyboard for you Android phone/tablet, use WiFi Keyboard.
