How to control any Android phone from Windows / Mac OS X / Linux via USB
Controlling your Android phone using your PC is actually easier than one would think. This simple tutorial will involve you installing onto your computer (Windows or Linux or Mac OS X) a free software known as Android Screencast. Once you undertake the necessary steps below, you’ll be able to control your Android phone use your mouse and keyboard.
You might be wondering why you would want to do this, here are the features that Android Screencast gives you:
- Mouse and keyboard control FOR ROOTED DEVICES ONLY
- Landscape mode (right click)
- Video recording
- Browse your Android device’s files through your computer
- Control your phone to make phone calls from your computer
- Take screenshots
Here’s what you need to do to get started:
- Install the Android SDK (Download link)
- Connect your device through USB cable and ensure it’s detected with “adb devices”
- Make sure you have Java Runtime Environnement 5 or later installed
- Click here. You can launch it by typing “javaws <jnlp file>” from a command line.
Also check out the Google code page for Android Screencast if you need any additional help.
