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| AirDroid 2 - browser (web) interface |
AirDroid is a free Android application that you can use to control your Android device from your desktop, by using a web browser (so it on Linux and any other OS). It can be used to transfer files (upload to the phone or download to your desktop), browse images, quickly send or read an SMS and many others.
We've covered AirDroid before, so take a look at our initial post for more info.
The latest AirDroid 2 beta could only be downloaded by using an invitation, but the apk can now be downloaded by everyone, although it's not on Google Play just yet. The new version comes with many cool new features such as a new "Find my phone" service, a remote camera feature and others.
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| AirDroid 2 Android app |
Here are some of the new features available in the latest AirDroid 2:
- new remote Remote Camera feature: take photos using your phone from the AirDroid web interface;
- new "Find my phone" feature which uses the device GPS to display its current position, useful if you lose your phone or it gets stolen. You can remotely lock or wipe the phone;
- quick drag'n'drop area: you can now drag and drop files or apks in a special drag'n'drop area to quickly upload / install them to the Android phone or tabled, without having to open the AirDroid file manager;
- new option to take a screenshot of your Android device from AirDroid web interface. This feature requires root access on the Android device;
- the Android device doesn't have to be in the same wireless network as the computer you're using to access it and you can now use AirDroid over 3G / 4G;
- other small new features: quick access to frequent contacts, add folder shortcuts on the web interface desktop, etc.
Below you can see a few screenshots with some of the new AirDroid2 features in action:
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| Remote camera |
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| Find my phone |
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| Remote screenshot feature |
When you start AirDroid v2, you'll be prompted to login with your AirDroid account so if you don't have one, you'll have to create it. Please note that I've encountered an error when trying to create an account: AirDroid allows you to use Twitter, Google and other services to create the account and if the username entered exists on Twitter (even though you didn't select Twitter) but it's not your account, you won't be able to register, so you may have to enter an username that doesn't exist on Twitter. Some users have reported some other more or less similar issues when registering and the AirDroid developers are working on a fix for this.
You can still use AirDroid 2 without an account, but you won't have access to all the features. For instance, you'll be able to control the camera from the browser, but the phone finder service won't work and you won't be able to transfer files over 3G / 4G. You can, however, transfer files over WiFi if you're not using an AirDroid account. When you start it, enter the local address (e.g: 192.168...) in a web browser, and you'll then be prompted to accept this connection on your device and you're ready to go (no password is required any more):
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| Accept connection (local, no account) |
Another small issue I've encountered was when using a local connection (without an AirDroid account) and a HTTPS connection: the web page (AirDroid web interface) wouldn't load in Firefox, but it did work in Google Chrome. However, let's not forget that AirDroid v2 is still in beta, so all of these small issues should be fixed soon!
Since AirDroid v2 is still in beta, new features might be added later on.
Since AirDroid v2 is still in beta, new features might be added later on.
AirDroid is probably the best solution to transfer files to/from your Android 4.0+ device on Linux, considering the current issues with this. Or, you can use Go-mtpfs which works, but is not so easy to use as AirDroid.
Download AirDroid v2
I've tested AirDroid 2 beta using a Samsung Galaxy S2 phone running CyanogenMod 10.1 nightly (Android 4.2.1).
seen on LifeHacker and chimerarevo.com
