Air mouse – Is that anything like an airball?

When I first heard about an app that could control your mouse and your keyboard on your computer I was most definitely interested.  I was also a little curious as to how that was possible.  The trick is, the piece of software that acts as a server on your computer connects to the app.  Well, in actuality the app probably connects to the server.  Regardless, after the connection is made, let the fun begin.  Oh wait, the computer and the iPhone have to be on the same network for this to work.  Trust me, I tried at work, figuring that this would be the best prank of them all, but the wireless my iPhone connects to is separate from the regular network.  No fun for me.

So you have downloaded the app and the server software for your computer – now what?  Well load the app, silly.  As you can see on the right, there are two mouse designs (the first two screen shots).  Don’t worry about the bottom half of the screen just yet.  You have the mouse design (on left) which has the traditional left and right buttons, a scroll wheel of sorts (the up and down arrows) and this curious button in the middle near the top of the phone.  Press and hold this button and you are now controlling the mouse movements with your mind!  Okay not your mind but rather your hand and how you tilt the phone.  I still think it would have been cooler with the mind.

The other mouse setup is simply a track pad, like on a laptop.  There is a trick here though – if you rotate the phone to landscape you’ll get a big landscaped track pad (shown at the right)!  The keyboard, or whatever you have on the bottom at the time, goes away.  I guess this is a good time to talk about the bottom half of the screen.  You have two main options: keyboard or functions.  Within functions you have a couple more options: music, web and regular function buttons.  Here comes another trick – if you’re in regular portrait mode and want to get rid of the keyboard or function buttons just shake the phone up and down once.  There you go, enjoy.  Repeat the process if you want to bring them back.

I see this being of value for practical jokes or power point presenters (with wifi access), otherwise I’m having trouble finding a reason to keep the app on my phone.  I have a wireless mouse and keyboard already. If I’m too far from the computer for those to work, then I’m too far away to see the screen.  Actually, I just thought of a nice use – the music controls for while you’re away from your computer.  Let me know if you all find other uses for it.  At $1.99 it is a good price for what you get, I’m just sure how much use I’ll get out of it.

What I thought in a nutshell!
Use-ability
How user friendly is the app and its interface?
Practicality
How likely is it that someone is going to use it?
Neat Factor
Will this app wow you?

Overall
How did it fair overall?