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        Windows Mobile app turns phone into "air mouse"

        Jonathan Angel | Date: Oct 9, 2008 | Comments: 1


        Developer Marcin Baliniak has released a free Windows Mobile application that turns touchscreen phones into input devices for a desktop PC. "GRemote" features touchpad and mouse functionality, and allows "air mousing" with accelerometer-equipped phones, Baliniak says.



        (Click here for a larger view of GRemote's mouse emulation)

        The GRemote application consists of two components, GResmoteSetup.CAB, installable on Windows Mobile devices, and GRemoteServer.exe, an application for Windows XP/Vista desktop PCs. Once the corresponding applications have been run on each device, says Baliniak, the mobile device communicates with the desktop via TCP/IP -- USB, Bluetooth, and WiFi are all supported -- and acts as an input device.


        GRemote's control panels run on a desktop PC
        (Click either to enlarge)

        Via the desktop-based GRemoteServer control panel (shown above), users can configure the Windows Mobile device's touchscreen and keypad, just as if they belonged to a dedicated input device. If a phone has a hardware keyboard, this can be used as a numeric kepad, adds Baliniak.

        According to its author, the GRemote application has six different components, shown below. They are:
        • GCenter -- allows selecting the type of controller to be emulated
        • GMouse -- emulates a mouse, with virtual "scroll wheel"
        • Touchpad -- emulates a laptop touchpad, but with a right-hand area that triggers scrolling
        • GPad -- provides controls designed for remote operation of Windows Media Center devices
        • GMedia -- provides multimedia keys, such as Stop, Play, Next, etc. that operate Windows Media Player
        • Keyboard -- provides dedicated onscreen "keys" and also relays input from mobile device's hardware keyboard


        GRemote screenshots
        (Click any image to enlarge)

        GRemote is said to work on any Windows Mobile devices that feature WVGA, QVGA, and WQVGA screen resolutions. The application also includes support for the accelerometers found in the HTC Touch Pro, HTC Touch Diamond, and Samsung Omnia. With these devices, users can manipulate a desktop's cursor by waving their phones around in the air, Baliniak says.

        Further information

        GRemote, still under development but currently downloadable in version 0.3, is available from the xda-developers website, here. The application requires Windows Mobile Professional and Microsoft's .NET Compact Framework 3.5.


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