AirDroid lets you control your Android device with your PC

Let me tell you about this app I’ve been playing around over the weekend. For the longest time, I’ve been looking for something that would let me send and receive SMS messages on my HTC phone using my desktop PC without any cables. Then I heard of AirDroid, a free app that allows you to control your Android device via WiFi.

How does it work?

With AirDroid, all you need to do is simply download the app, make sure your device and PC/laptop are in the same wireless network, start the app and you’re good to go. No need to download a desktop client, all you need is your web browser. AirDroid will give you an IP address and password that you need to enter on your browser so you can access the phone.

The web client looks really simple and nice, and it’s so easy to use. You can control various aspects of your phone from this client.

Probably the most helpful function to me is Messages where I can send and receive messages on my browser even when my phone is in another room charging. I can also delete message threads and save contacts straight from the message as well. My only issue here is that you won’t be alerted when there’s a new message. You need to refresh your message list if you think you got a new message.

I also love Files which lets me access my phone’s SD card from my PC. No need to Dropbox files if I want to copy things to and from my phone. And I don’t need to pull my USB cable from the charger just to copy photos off the phone.

Contacts is also helpful because it lets me edit my list of contact’s details. Easier to manage and clean up my list of contacts on a bigger screen with options in just a single click. It’s not as snappy as I want it though especially if you have plenty of contacts.

Music transfer is so easy as well. No need for cables. If you want to upload, just select your new MP3s and click Import to start transferring. Easy to export too if you want to download songs from your Android device to your friend’s PC.

Apps lets you manually install .APKs (app installer files) on your phone. Or export your APKs.  This is really useful for reviewers. I always download the same things from the Market every time I have a new Android device to review. With Apps, I can just install my set of apps wirelessly from my laptop.

There are other handy things you can do with AirDroid, you can access Photos, Call Logs, set Ringtones, and send a piece of text into your phone’s clipboard and they’re working on new features as we speak.

Overall, it’s a very useful app for Android users who spend a lot of time on their PCs or laptops. You can hide the phone inside your desk or in my case, have it placed outside our room where signal is much stronger so I won’t miss a call or a message.

Go ahead and give AirDroid a try. It’s absolutely free. Go search for it in the Android Market.