The keyboard-mouse combo remains the most effective way to control a computer… but there are times when using it becomes a hassle. Why should you have to cross the entire room to change the volume of your laptop, or connect a wireless keyboard every time you want to adjust something on an HTPC? These are the inconveniences that the software Unified Remote tries to solve, turning your smartphone into a universal remote control that emulates the keyboard and mouse, as well as controlling several applications.
The flexibility of computers for playing multimedia content is overwhelming. But if that is their only role, we need to modify other aspects before taking full advantage of it. One of the most common is noise. Nobody can enjoy a movie if the processor fan or graphics card behaves like a turbine, so we must find a good thermal balance. Then we get to control. Many users take the shortcut of wireless keyboards, and the market offers very compact units with an integrated trackpad. However, there is another option: turning your smartphone into a remote control.
Your smartphone as a remote control
That's where Unified Remote comes in. Its operation is divided into two parts: software that acts as a server, and the mobile app compatible with iOS, Android or Windows Phone.
What can we control exactly? In total, the official page has 110 “Remotes” (18 of them free), where we find support for programs like Spotify, VLC Player, Kodi, BSPlayer, the main web browsers, and of course, the mouse-keyboard combo. In most cases, the connection between the mobile app and the server is done via WiFi. Depending on the configuration, some manual adjustments may be needed, and to be honest we cannot escape the lag, but it should be tolerable.
Unified Remote works with Windows, Linux, OS X, and alternative platforms like the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino Yún. Returning to mobile apps, Android compatibility varies greatly from one device to another, so we are not dealing with a perfect solution, but it definitely deserves our attention.
