Check In To Your Computer With Simple Remote Desktop
Simple Remote Desktop ($0.99) by Dong Xu turns your iPad into whichever computer of yours you need it to be. Whether you need your Mac, Linux, or any other operating system, connecting to it is as simple as typing in a password.
This is a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) app, similar to other apps such as Screens VNC, iTeleport VNC, and VNC Viewer. A Java file will need to be downloaded from the developer’s site.
Once running, it will show the port being used for the connection, as well as a password and the desktop’s IP address.
Open the app on the iPad and add your desktop in the menu. A thumbnail of your screen will show in one of the nine boxes available for displaying other screens. Select it, and you’re in.
The first thing about the connection that caught my eye was how stretched my Mac’s display appeared. Most likely it wouldn’t be so bad if a keyboard or some other display ran along the bottom to make it proportional.
Selecting items on the screen becomes difficult. This is inherently an issue with any iOS VNC solution because you’re trying to use a mouse interface in a touch environment. I only mention it to dash any dreams of completely replacing your desktop.
The overall responsiveness of this app isn’t quite up to speed. For example, pinching and zooming will zoom in super close, as if it had been done multiple times. There is some lag as well just switching between windows.
With a host of other remote desktop apps available, there is certainly some competition. This best feature this app has to offer against the others is its price, though even that isn’t much, considering there are free options as well.
For those looking to dabble in remoting into his or her desktop, this app would be a good starting point. IT staff or other power users would most likely want to go with a stronger choice.
