New York, Tony Karakashian // Nov 24, 2009

I believe I might’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve had an HTPC in my living room for over a decade. I just loved the potential of marrying a computer, which at the time were just starting to get DVD-ROMs and a big-screen TV.

Over the years, my HTPC has evolved and it’s currently running Vista, but will be moving to Windows 7 after the holidays. What had not evolved until very recently, though, is the ability to control the damn thing from 10-12 feet away. I’ve tried all manner of wireless devices over the years, some worked better than others, but none that made me happy until I finally got a media center remote…now I could control the media interface easily (and my wife found it easy, too. A major hurdle!)

But, when interacting with it as a computer: browsing the web, doing maintenance tasks, etc, I generally ended up plugging a wired keyboard and mouse into the machine. Then, I got my iPhone. Very soon after the launch of the AppStore, a number of developers realized “I have a touchscreen in my hand that’s just about the same size as one of those you’d find on a laptop!”  They started writing applications that allowed you to use your iPhone as a touchpad, and in some cases as a wireless keyboard.

Since they worked over Wifi, distance was no longer an issue. I read all of the reviews at the time and ended up settling on Air Mouse Pro as my app of choice. I’ve been extremely happy with it, but recently, iTap gave us the chance of reviewing the app. One of these is iTap Wifi Touchpad, a competitor to Air Mouse Pro. Since I’ve used Air Mouse for about a year now, I’m quite comfortable with it, so decided it only made sense to compare the two…

Air Mouse Pro

Based on reviews over the years, it seems this app is still the reigning champion for touchpad apps. It’s versatile and flexible and offers some unique features. On opening the app, your iPhone takes on the appearance of some weird love child of a Blackberry’s keyboard and a scroll wheel mouse. The top part of the screen acts as a small touchpad, with two thin buttons separating it from the keyboard section. There’s even a scrollie- thingy to duplicate having a wheel.

If you decide all you need is a touchpad, a quick shake of your iPhone will cause the keyboard to slide out of view. But, don’t be so quick to dismiss it, as the keyboard offers a host of useful functions that aren’t immediately apparent. If you click the drop down button above the “P”, the keyboard changes into a series of specialized keyboards:

- A media setup with play, rewind, fast forward and volume controls. This is useful in applications like Media Center, Windows Media Player, iTunes or even VLC Player.

- A web browsing setup with a home button, forward and back, reload, etc.

- A function keyboard which gives you access to a host of specialized keys, including Esc and the arrow keys.

Through the installed receiver, you can configure the app to auto-switch between the special keyboards. So, for example, if you bring up Media Player, they keyboard will automatically turn to the media keyboard so you can control it easier. Similarly with the browsing option if you bring up IE or Firefox. These are completely configurable to whatever application you life. For me, however, the separation of the arrow keys from the media keys is a drag since you need the media keys to watch stuff in Media Center and the arrow keys to get there. It’s a minor annoyance, and one I’ve learned to live with.

Pairing your iPhone with your computer couldn’t be easier. The receiver app uses Bonjour, Apple’s implementation of Universal Plug and Play and is part of iTunes. It’s how iTunes can find other libraries on your network without you having to configure anything (if you don’t have iTunes installed on your machine, the receiver will just install Bonjour). Once that’s installed, simply launch the app and it will connect to the server. Done. You can, however, manually configure a server via the IP address.

Features - 4.5 Appearance - 4.0.  Usability - 4.5.  Value - 4.5
Overall: 4.375 stars out of 5.

iTunes App Store Link

iTap Wifi Touchpad

In comparison to the well established Air Mouse Pro, iTap’s Wifi Touchpad seems a little light on the features. In terms of basic functionality, though, it may be just what you need. Similar to the other software, iTap Wifi Touchpad requires you to install a receiver application on your host computer so it can be controlled. Unlike the other, iTap’s offering doesn’t require you to install Bonjour. It does, some how, magically communicate with your iPhone that it’s available and the software will connect without much interaction.

The only part of this process I wasn’t fond of was that you have to “pair” your iPhone with the host once it’s found. It might not seem like a big deal, but I don’t have a mouse or keyboard on my HTPC regularly, so I had to go get one just to hit the “pair” button. I suppose one could make an argument about security, but really…if someone’s gotten onto your Wifi network, hacked into your machine and then installed the receiver software…I’d say you have worse issues to deal with.

Like their other product I recently reviewed, iTap RDP, iTap is very much into controlling things via gestures. Since gestures can be hard to remember, they provide a “help file” right on the touchpad with instructions as to which gesture does what right in front of your face. Oddly, they’ve made the instructions big, so you have to scroll through them to see them all. I thought at first having a “control” for part of the app right in the middle of the touchpad might be a nuisance, but I never had it be an issue in actual use.

If you have a Windows PC, you’re pretty much limited to left and right mouse click gestures and scrolling. Mac users, this is where you want to pay attention: you get a whole suite of gestures to use. If you have one of the new Macs with the multi-touch touchpads, you get the same set of features with iTap Wifi Touchpad. You can rotate, magnify, and do all kinds of nifty things.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a Mac, so I couldn’t test this enhanced functionality. Their site mentions that a new version of the software will enable some of these gestures for Vista machines. A suggestion, though: in the in-app instructions, it clearly is aware that I’m connected to a machine that doesn’t have multi-touch capabilities, so it dims them out.  Can we just remove them entirely? It’s really a tease having them there.

Beyond the touchpad, iTap Wifi Touchpad also offers a keyboard that slides into place when you double-three-finger tap the screen (I thought it was difficult explaining things when multi-core processors started showing up). This keyboard provides basic functionality, plus arrow keys and volume controls which is a nice touch. However, while it does have an Escape key, there’s no Control, Alt or Option modifiers. Air Mouse Pro manages to provide them.

In the end, there wasn’t anything that iTap’s offering gives me that would take me away from Air Mouse Pro. It might be a good option for someone who needs basic touchpad functionality. And, if you have a Mac, the additional multi-touch features might be a big incentive for you.

One big negative I had with it, though, was speed.  In moving the cursor from one end of the screen with iTap’s product, I’d have to swipe across the screen, then start at the other side and swipe again, and sometimes a third time just to get to the other side. Air Mouse Pro does not have this issue. I can get from one side of the screen to the other with ease.

Features - 3.0 Appearance - 3.5.  Usability - 4.0.  Value - 3.5
Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5.

iTunes App Store Link

NOTE: iTap Wifi Touchpad was provided by HLW. Air mouse has been bought by iPhoneTunes.net