iPhone can be a great productivity tool. I use it to manage a variety of different tasks that I used to be tied to a computer now on my iPhone anywhere I am.
However, the on-screen keyboard on the iPhone isn’t ideal for a lot of things – typing a long SMS message or typing in a long web address or even lengthy notes.
So when I am working on my laptop and I need to send some stuff over to iPhone I initially would drop that info in Dropbox and access it from the Dropbox iPhone app.
Then, I came across an interesting app called PasteFire that let me send various forms of data to my iPhone and it intelligently recognized what was being sent and will initiate actions based on it. You can read my PasteFire review here.
myPhoneDesktop is a new tool I just came across that provides an easy and effective way to work with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch right from your desktop.
myPhoneDesktop consists of 2 components
- Desktop component – you can install the free myPhoneDesktop desktop cilent on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. Or if you are on a computer where you don’t have desktop client installed, you could use the browser bookmarklet.
- iPhone/iPad app – myPhoneDesktop is an Universal app that works on both iPhone and iPad and it costs $4.99.
You need to have both the desktop and iPhone app installed for this to work.
Desktop Client
The desktop client opens up in a small window similar to the iPhone screen in size with tabs in the bottom just like a typical iPhone app. The tabs are Phone, URL, Text, Image and Settings. As the names indicate, you can send these 4 types of data to your iPhone.
iPhone App
The iPhone app shares the same interface as the desktop counterpart. It sends push notifications for everything sent to the iPhone from the desktop app. And I have seen it to be almost instantaneous. The app works over 3G and WiFi.
The app is also iOS 4 compatible and fully supports fast app switching. The universal app is nicely priced at $4.99 and it is a bargain to gain such an awesome functionality for both your iPhone and iPad at one low price! (check out the promo code giveaway details at the end of this post)
Phone
You can store your favorite numbers on the desktop app and you can initiate a call/sms that number right from your desktop.
With the phone tab, you can also send phone numbers to your iPhone. The myPhoneDesktop iPhone app then notifies you with a push notification and it opens up. You can choose the right top icon to see different actions you can do on the number you just receieved. You send a SMS message, call the number, add to a new contact, add to an existing contact, etc.
The desktop client tightly integrates with the operating system where it supports keyboard shortcuts for copy paste, etc.
URL
You can also send web addresses such as long Google Maps url or anything that you come across to your iPhone. Let’s say you are leaving work but would like to continue reading an article on your ride home, you can send the URL to your iPhone and even have it open in Instapaper or do any other actions associated with it.
Text
This is the tab I often use the most. Even after using the iPhone for a couple of years I am still not very good at typing on the virtual keyboard. So, I send big blobs of text from the desktop app to my iPhone.
Image
Since my iPhone doubles as an incredible blogging tool, this app helps me send screenshots from my desktop to my iPhone seamlessly by just pasting it. You can choose a file from your computer or at any URL or even from your clipboard to send.
myPhoneDesktop provides a very efficient way to use your computer and iPhone together with ease. If you are a person who uses both extensively in your workflow, you will see a huge benefit in productivity and decrease in mind numbing workaround we used to do for simple tasks like the above.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Availability: App Store
Pricing: $4.99
Reviewed at version: 1.4 (iOS 4)
myPhoneDesktop iPhone App Giveaway
The app developer has kindly provided some promo codes for 5 lucky Top iPhone Resource readers to win in a giveaway.
You can do one of the following or all to enter the giveaway
- Leave a comment in this post (with a valid email address so I can email you the code)
- Tweet this message on Twitter
”Retweet this for a chance to win myPhoneDesktop iPhone app ($4.99) from @TopiPhone http://bit.ly/9AYKjl“ - Become a fan on TiR Facebook page and leave a comment there mentioning you want to win this app.
We’ll announce the winners by the end of the day on July 14.
Winners announced! Congrats to Edbertin, @bones00, @jiushijeff, @smartpig, @urvaksh. Stay tuned for more giveaways like this one.
