Alright, I’m going to be honest with you, I love this app. Gmote is what makes my phone more than just a phone; it’s what makes me happy that one night I spent all my money on a shiny HTC Magic.
First, a quick summary. Gmote is an app that allows you to turn your phone into a remote for your computer. It uses Wi-Fi to connect the two devices, and as such, a small program needs to be installed to your PC or Mac. Once this is done, no more setup is necessary. As long as you’re connected to the same network as your computer, you can browse your files and start or stop media playing. If you’re as single-mindedly devoted to efficiency (read lazy) as me, then this has hopefully caught your interest.
The added ability to control your computer’s keyboard and mouse from the comfort of your blankets is what really sold this app to me. Your touch screen can instantly be transformed into a trackpad, like that found on a laptop, with no discernible delay between your touch and the movement of your cursor onscreen. I’m just a simple computer user (it took me an age to setup FTP on my phone), and perhaps that explains some of my enthusiasm, but to be able to do such a thing after 2 minutes of setup makes this a top app in my opinion.
After months of use I have do a few pet peeves. First, is that if you start something playing on your computer, you can’t then pause or skip scenes using your phone, at least not without using the mouse tool. Secondly, it comes bundled with its own version of VLC media player, used as default. It can be changed, but it’s not the simplest process and the app doesn’t work as well with other programs.
Pros:
- No complicated setup
- Simple and easy to use
- Allows you to stay warm and cozy in bed
Areas for improvement:
- More support for alternative media players
- Add support for controlling media initiated on the computer
Final Verdict
This app isn’t perfect, but the problems are small sacrifices and overall this app is more than worth your time.
Special note: All versions of Android supported.
Note: This review was submitted by Sam Bentley as part of our app review contest.