PhonePresenter

Even though smartphone are not as powerful as a computer or laptop, the truth is that they have the advantage of portability and mobility. As presentations are becoming more dynamic, using your mobile phone to manage documents on your computer is one way of making a first good impression.

PhonePresenter is a light piece of software that transforms your smartphone into a remote control that allows you to manage PowerPoint presentations.

The setup is quick and uneventful and does not require any special attention from your part, expect for specifying the location on your local drives. Once installed, you can access the utility from the System Tray and access the wizard that helps you pair the computer to your smartphone.

The pairing is not overly complicated but entails you ensure that both devices are connected to the same WiFi network. Afterwards, you need to open the web browser of your device to the address specified and enter the set of numbers displayed on the screen. If the settings are correct, you can view a message that you can start your presentation.

The idea behind the application is to act as a replacement for the presentation remote and hence, you can perform all actions that you normally would do via the remote device. In other words, you can launch presentations, go back and forth through the slides and, most importantly, not having to worry about line of sight or distance, as the app relies on WiFi and not on IR.

Since the role of the application is to provide you with a flexible method of managing presentations for various meetings, there is a chance that you might be worried about security. You should know that you can raise the protection level up a notch by enabling the authentication feature.

While the Basic protection entails setting a username and password, the Advanced version implies specifying a server socket and port.

In the eventuality that you want to make sure that your audience is sitting comfortably and focused on your message and not struggling to view your slides between cables, then perhaps you can consider giving PhonePresenter a try.