Description: WiFi Mouse Pro is an Android app that lets you control a Windows or Mac PC from your Android smartphone as if it were just another mouse plugged in to your system. WiFi mice like these certainly aren’t new, but Necta’s offering has been available for years now, and in that time it’s gotten extremely competent. Offering not just mouse control, but media control, simple browser buttons and slide controls for presentation. More than that though, WiFi Mouse Pro can essentially turn your Android phone into a wireless touchpad for your PC with support for multi-touch gestures and more. So, how does WiFi Mouse Pro shape up? Let’s take a look and see.
How it Works: Setting up WiFi Mouse Pro isn’t exactly difficult, but it’s not exactly easy either. You’ll want to download WiFi Mouse Pro from the Play Store and then download the mouse server for either Windows or Mac here. Once you’ve got the server and app installed, you’ll need to open up the app on your Android phone and connect the two together. I used autocorrect for this and it worked great (it’s worth noting that you’ll need to be both on the same WiFi network).
Once you’ve done that, you can just go ahead and move your finger around as you would on a laptop touchpad. There are little blue trails that show up where you move it and left/right click can be found either side of the scroll wheel.
The first thing I noticed was how quick the touchpad was, there was no perceptible lag here at all, and while I have a decent WiFi network here at home, it’s only single-band 802.11n, so imagine it over faster dual-band ac connections. The bottom row of controls are nice to see, and they can bring up things like the keyboard for text input.
Other useful commands include things like web browser controls as well media controls, further making WiFi Mouse Pro’s case for those with media center PCs. There’s even a voice-to-text feature available as well, allowing you to speak out searched on your PC from your smartphone.
Gestures are fully supported here as well, like two-finger scroll, pinch-to-zoom works to resize windows and zoom in on images and you can even use gestures like four-finger ones, too.
Opinion: As I said before, these type of apps aren’t new, and they’ve been available for quite some time now however, none of them quite “click” like WiFi Mouse Pro does. For one thing, it just works – there’s no messing around with the server in the background and it doesn’t get in your way, nor does it slow down your computer at all. There’s no lag that I noticed in my use and it’s extremely responsive with the ability to tweak sensitivity and such in the settings. You truly can use this as a touchpad for your computer, great for those who are more used to using a laptop, or just prefer to work with gestures. The added extras like quick controls for browsing the web and controlling media help add to the experience and it’s really nice as a Linux fan to see support for Ubuntu here as well.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – WiFi Mouse Pro doesn’t take long to setup and I never felt any lag over my fairly competent – but nothing special – WiFi network at home.
- Features (5/5) – There’s everything and more included in Necta’s latest update and features just keep on coming to WiFi Mouse Pro with more gestures and XBMC support coming soon.
- Theme (4/5) – While not the most inpsiring Android app, there’s nothing wrong with how WiFi Mouse Pro looks and it’s easy to use.
- Overall (4.5/5) – If you’re looking for a slide remote for the office, a media center PC remote, or just a way to play around with gestures or you want a touchpad for your Windows PC on the cheap, WiFi Mouse Pro will fit your needs.
Pros
- Very little to no lag when using it over a decent network.
- Works like a touchpad does, with complete support for gestures and more.
- Doesn’t take much to set up, and doesn’t interfere on the computer side of things.
- Extra controls for the web, presentations and media controls only make the app more useful.
Cons
- Controlling another Android device would be good when connecting a tablet to a TV, or when Android TV arrives.
- Keeps display awake when open, which could drain battery if you were to forget about it.
Conclusion: WiFi Mouse Pro is an excellent app for Android, and just goes to show how powerful and flexible Android really is. With this app, you can easily turn your smartphone into a wireless touchpad, and it’s great for use in the office, in the living room or at your desk. With so many uses and so many features, including the ability to input keyboard shortcuts, WiFi Mouse Pro covers all the bases and works great.