All iPads: Comparison of iOS VNC apps (right click, audio, file transfer, easy setup, speed)

[ng1012]

My ipad was my laptop replacement for a long time. However, windows 8 is somehow quite tempting because I can use the real MS office and photoshop. However, I still like the iPad becasue the stability.

My home desktop is on 24/7. I am looking for a VNC apps to do the followings. Can anyone help me to look for the best apps?

Must have features:
1. Right click using right click of the bluetooth or USB connected mouse (jailbreak required)
2. Left click drag and drop
3. No router or IP configuration
4. Photo transfer from iPad/iPhone back to the remote controlled computer

Optional features:
5. Video audio streaming
6. Play flash
7. File trasnfer other than photos - 2-way
8. Scroll up and down in the webpage
9. work on both windows and mac

My candidates:
1. Logmein
2. Teamviewer
3. Splashtop
4. Mocha
5. RealVNC VNC viewer
6. iTeleport
7. Pocket Cloud

[brand]

Have you bothered to look in the iPad Apps forum? I have seen this covered in there many times.

LogMeIn and TeamViewer are not VNC apps and do not use the RFB protocol. Given that you specified VNC apps you can cross them off of your list.

[Bobby.e]

I just started using Remoter VNC. I really like it. You do VNC, RDP, SSH and some other stuff.

[slwiser]

I just upgraded my Windows 7 notebook to Windows 8 and it is very confusing since it requires so many more clicks to get around than Windows 7. It appears to me that Windows 8 is a Microsoft attempt to make Windows more OSX like in having a shell program to function from. The problem is that all the programs remain Windows 7 oriented and lack the polish of a Windows 8 interface. Windows 8 requires a better mouse to navigate around instead of the standard clicking mouse. I think once I get one of the Windows 8 nice, this make take care of itself but until then Windows 8 is very much a shell program around Windows 7 requiring extra clicks to get to what you want to do. A Microsoft FAIL in my opinion.

Proof of point: It is interesting that when I open a program I get it opening from the standard desktop (think Windows 7) having dropped out of the Windows 8 shell.

I just check my Windows 8 install that I did this week, four days ago and I have over 50 security updates....another Microsoft FAIL...I wonder how a long it will be until this upgrade bogs down to as slow as my Windows 7 install had gotten due to these unrelenting updates. Just remember all the time trails you see are on new setups....I will not believe those numbers after a few security updates.

[BHP41]

Originally Posted by slwiser

I just upgraded my Windows 7 notebook to Windows 8 and it is very confusing since it requires so many more clicks to get around than Windows 7. It appears to me that Windows 8 is a Microsoft attempt to make Windows more OSX like in having a shell program to function from. The problem is that all the programs remain Windows 7 oriented and lack the polish of a Windows 8 interface. Windows 8 requires a better mouse to navigate around instead of the standard clicking mouse. I think once I get one of the Windows 8 nice, this make take care of itself but until then Windows 8 is very much a shell program around Windows 7 requiring extra clicks to get to what you want to do. A Microsoft FAIL in my opinion.

Proof of point: It is interesting that when I open a program I get it opening from the standard desktop (think Windows 7) having dropped out of the Windows 8 shell.

I just check my Windows 8 install that I did this week, four days ago and I have over 50 security updates....another Microsoft FAIL...I wonder how a long it will be until this upgrade bogs down to as slow as my Windows 7 install had gotten due to these unrelenting updates. Just remember all the time trails you see are on new setups....I will not believe those numbers after a few security updates.

It is horrible. My grandmother needed a new PC. All she does is email, calendar, Facebook and type letters up. So I found an inexpensive PC with 8 on it. On sale for $249. Thought great, set this up and she'll be good, wrong. Just as you said the entire OS is 7 with a shell of 8. It's confusing. It's horribly slow and I will give it that I was on a cheaper machine but it shouldn't be that slow. Absolute fail on MS part and they'll feel it. Myself, I still use XP for my work and a Mac at home. Everything for Microsoft went down hill after XP. It's still the best Windows ever made.

[brand]

Originally Posted by BHP41

Everything for Microsoft went down hill after XP. It's still the best Windows ever made.

Windows 7 is actually the best consumer operating system that has come out of Redmond.

[Ratatapa]

itap vnc

[neutrino23]

Originally Posted by ng1012

My ipad was my laptop replacement for a long time. However, windows 8 is somehow quite tempting because I can use the real MS office and photoshop. However, I still like the iPad becasue the stability.

My home desktop is on 24/7. I am looking for a VNC apps to do the followings. Can anyone help me to look for the best apps?

Must have features:
1. Right click using right click of the bluetooth or USB connected mouse (jailbreak required)
2. Left click drag and drop
3. No router or IP configuration
4. Photo transfer from iPad/iPhone back to the remote controlled computer

Optional features:
5. Video audio streaming
6. Play flash
7. File trasnfer other than photos - 2-way
8. Scroll up and down in the webpage
9. work on both windows and mac

My candidates:
1. Logmein
2. Teamviewer
3. Splashtop
4. Mocha
5. RealVNC VNC viewer
6. iTeleport
7. Pocket Cloud

I've used Splashtop a little. You can do the right and left clicks with gestures and they don't require router or IP configuration.

I'd recommend using Dropbox for the file transfers rather than trying to add that to the task of screen management.

The problem I had was matching the screen resolutions. Splashtop forces your Mac to 1024x768 by default (at least it did the last time I tried it). You can change it back, but the small size of the iPad makes it difficult to see things. On top of that, the digitizer on the iPad is sort of coarse so it is difficult to precisely click on things if you raise the resolution of the Mac.

There might be a solution for this. Maybe this is pilot error. I haven't had time to work on this lately. If I can get the iPad screen to pan and zoom around the Mac's screen then I can zoom in when needed to more easily click on small targets.

I wouldn't consider this to be an all encompassing solution. It does work wonderfully if you need to get a file or launch an app just to export something in a desired format.

Unless you have fantastic bandwidth at both ends you'll have to put up with occasional pauses. I haven't tried streaming videos but I'm doubtful. Most of the hotels and libraries and airports provide rather slow WiFi.

Take a full size screen shot of your desktop (cmnd shift 3) and transfer that to your iPad to get a feel for what it will be like logging in remotely.

[pocketpenguin]

Originally Posted by BHP41

It is horrible. My grandmother needed a new PC. All she does is email, calendar, Facebook...

Download ClassicShell, it turns your win8 interface into your choice of win7, vista or XP. My mom, also a grandmother, loves her win8 machine now that it works like win7.

[BHP41]

Originally Posted by pocketpenguin

Download ClassicShell, it turns your win8 interface into your choice of win7, vista or XP. My mom, also a grandmother, loves her win8 machine now that it works like win7.

Took the PC back and got her an iPad mini. Perfect for her. Apple keyboard for her to type letters on. Should've done that to start with.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[neutrino23]

I updated Splashtop and spent more time learning how to use it and now find it more useful than I had thought it was before. There is a bit of a trick to getting click and drag working. The issue is really that you are using a touch screen to drive interfaces that were designed to work with a mouse.

Still, I would classify this as something I'd do when I really had to have something such as when I'm traveling and need to get some data processed to a format I'm not carrying or to extract information from stored data. I would want to do this on a regular basis. At one time I had thought I could just work with a desktop and an iPad and log in remotely. We are not quite there. The pan and zoom isn't too bad. A BT keyboard would make life easier. What I really need is support for a mouse.

Internet speeds are not there either. I tried viewing a video streamed over the internet to my MBP by using the iPad and Splashtop. It worked and the sound was great but the video was reduced to a low frame rate.

[slwiser]

Update on my Windows 8 updates...as of this morning's check I had 84 updates since installing back on jan 21st, 2013.

I think I can see is slowing down already.

It really takes about a minute to boot up with all the windows one has to go through to get to the desktop. There are hacks that let me do this automatically but this still took almost a minute itself.

Don't believe those who say 15 seconds...yea to get to the opening screen maybe..then you have to click something to get to the password screen then you have to wait to get to the Metro Shell then you have to move the mouse to the right side to be able to choose the desktop screen. Yes, one minute at least if you have not hacked it.