14 DAY TRIAL // Whether we realize it or not, remote controls have changed our lives quite a bit, from the way we arrange our homes to the way we interact with the wide variety of devices around us.
Because throughout the last years, the “boom” of social media websites such as YouTube has greatly contributed towards the latest drop in TV viewing statistics, it’s no surprise that, like many other technologies, remote controls have found their way from our sofas on to our computers.
Take full remote control of your Mac within seconds
While the concept of computer remote controlling is not new, Unified Remote is one daring remote access tool that aims to change the way we interact with our devices using a smartphone.
This said, there are a few things you need to know right from the start about Unified Remote, one of them being that it works with the help of two separate apps, one installed on your Mac that acts like a server, and a next of kin one for your phone or tablet.
Configuring Unified Remote is a straightforward and ridiculously easy process, as you only have to start both the server and the mobile app, and then both of them will automatically link if they are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Once the OS X app is installed on your Mac, you shouldn’t expect a fully featured app with a user-friendly interface, but rather an unobtrusive and lightweight menulet. Because the whole point of remote control is to be as far as possible from the device you are controlling, having an OS X interface would be useless, as most of the interaction is possible with the help of your smartphone.
Regardless, you should also know that Unified Remote’s settings can only be accessed via a web-based Server Manager.
Tailored and bespoke “remotes” for multiple apps and web services
Getting passed all the jibber jabber, it all comes down to one simple question: what can you do with Unified Remote? Well, as it turns out, while evidently you can’t control “everything” on your Mac with your mobile device, you will probably be quite surprised how close to it you will get.
With the help of its over 40 remotes, you can use your phone as a virtual mouse using its screen as a touch-control cursor, you can browse through all the files on your Mac’s local drives, you can write on your Mac from your phone using a practical virtual keyboard, browse through your pictures.
Furthermore, you can also monitor the system’s CPU and memory usage, execute command line tasks remotely, and even shut down, restart or hibernate your Mac with a simple tap on your smartphone’s screen.
Moreover, Unified Remote goes to great lengths to improve the handling of media players and web services such as VLC, iTunes, YouTube, Soundcloud, Spotify, Hulu, Pandora, and Netflix, to name only the most popular ones.
The same goes for controlling web browsers, as the team behind Unified Remote have really done their homework emulating the basic controls for Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome. Of course, probably the best way to go in terms of workflow is to create your own custom remote which will greatly simplify the way you interact with your Mac.
Makes both your smartphone and your Mac feel like extensions of yourself
While the media and web services remotes are nothing less than splendid in terms of usability, the mouse remote is by far the most impressive, not only because its versatility makes it possible for you to scroll, left and right click, pinch, zoom, or drag and drop, but also because it really offers a “palpable” connection between you and your Mac.
This app makes quite a statement with the attention to detail that has gone into it, therefore, another smart feature you will certainly appreciate is the fact that the mouse remote, alongside the system general media controls and the keyboard, are always present on all remotes, seamlessly docked on the bottom bar, a handy trick when you quickly need to write something or emulate a mouse click.
As far as we’ve been able to see during our tests, both the desktop and mobile Unified Remote apps feature very low resource requirements, therefore, you really have to be quite a nitpicker to find even the smallest of delays. To put it differently, in terms of resource usage, you need not fret, as the server application installed on your Mac will barely use 2% of CPU and almost 10 MB of RAM, while the mobile app did all the heavy lifting and ran with no hiccups on our test iPhones.
Looking towards the future
Considering how well Unified Remote performed during out tests, it is daylight clear that it comes with great potential for future implementation into the gaming world.
Aside from that, in the future, Unified Remote might also be integrated into our homes by bringing the technology to the masses. For instance, just imagine controlling every device in your house connected to the same Wi-Fi network with the help of a simple application installed on your smartphone.
The Good
Working around your Mac but not being within arm’s reach, wanting to watch movies or listen to music while sitting on your sofa, showing vacation photos to your friends, and browsing through a presentation’s slides, are just a few of the daily situations in which Unified Remote might come in handy.
The Bad
While nowadays TVs are starting to look more and more like computers and vice-versa, in the future most of what TV has to offer will probably slowly find its way into our computers, and, thus, Unified Remote might be able to attract a larger number of users.
The Truth
That feeling of sitting on a couch, with your smartphone in your hand, chips in the other, and fully controlling your Mac, is a good feeling indeed.
