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AirDisplay, an app from Avatron, is available for US$9.99 at the App Store.
The iPhone's screen is well-proportioned for a pants pocket, but you wouldn't want to use it all day as a dedicated computer monitor. Not if it was your main screen, anyway. But having a small screen off to the side can be surprisingly useful in a lot of situations.
There's a company called Mimo that specializes in these kinds of micro-monitors. Use them for chat, a color palette -- anything that doesn't need a whole lot of space yet tends to get in the way when it's on top of the main window you're looking at.
These monitors, however, cost over $100. Avatron has $10 apps for iPhones and iPads that turn the devices into secondary computer monitors via WiFi. The iPad's bigger screen makes it more versatile for this, but the iPhone has just enough screen on it to also have something to offer.
Avatron recently made it so their apps can make iDevices work with PCs as well as Macs.
Define 'Beta'
In order for AirDisplay to make your iPhone into a secondary monitor for your computer, you'll need to download a free desktop application from Avatron's site. There are finished versions for OS X 10.5.8 and 10.6 and up. However, the Windows version -- which is built for 7 and Vista (32- and 64-bit), as well as XP (32-bit only) -- is still in the beta crib.
It seems different companies have different definitions for the term "public beta." Gmail, for instance, worked fairly well when it arrived in beta, and it liked betahood so much it stayed there for half a decade.
For others, beta is code for "it's not really up to par yet, and we're working on it, but we're putting it out there anyway." That's fine when it's a free service or application, or when the customer gets a good couple of weeks worth of try-before-you-buy time. But when it's software that's only usable in conjunction with a paid app -- and it's necessary for that app to work at all -- it forces the buyer to stop for a minute and think, "How much do I really trust this word, beta?"
To all PC users thinking about giving AirDisplay a go, I wish I could tell you for sure whether it will work on your system. It works on mine (after the second shot at installation). But there are plenty of one-star reviews in the App Store from people complaining the Windows beta just doesn't cut the mustard.
And now that it's installed and running on my Windows 7 PC, it still runs into a few blips. Sometimes it'll go for hours at a time without incident; other times it seems to make my cursor disappear or even deactivate my secondary monitor (I typically use two; AirDisplay acts as a third). Sometimes the cursor will show on the main screen but not the iPhone's. Sometimes a simple app reset fixes it; other times require a total system restart. And sometimes the control application itself goes inaccessible (though the monitor still runs).
Are these spasms all due to potholes in the code, or have I scrambled my PC's brains so much it just doesn't play well with others anymore? All I can say for sure is that they don't happen when AirDisplay isn't running.
So maybe the beta desktop app sometimes gives my system the hiccups. But like I said, other times it runs all day without incident, and it's proven very useful, as long as I keep its limitations in mind.
Video Kills the Monitor Star
Even when it's getting along with Windows 7 without crashes and glitches, AirDisplay on an iPhone doesn't exactly give you everything a normal monitor will.
Video, for instance, does not seem to be AirDisplay's job, at least not for the setup in which I used it. I tried three common media players -- VLC, iTunes and Windows Media Player -- and none play nice on the iPhone-as-monitor setup. WMP crashes, iTunes automatically reconfigures itself for the main monitor, and VLC had this business going on where it'll play the video OK only if there's a bit of the window overlapping into another monitor. Whichever way you go with it, full-screen video isn't going to happen.
Web video is a similar story. If I view it as an inside-the-browser window, YouTube, Hulu and Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) clips play OK. Going to full-screen mode, though, the picture either goes choppy or freezes outright.
I don't know if these difficulties are due to wireless networking issues, but I'm using an 802.11n router, which typically gives device-to-device traffic like this a pretty wide road.
Also, keep in mind this doesn't support iPhone 4's Retina Display, so things might look a bit pixellated if you get in real close. Avatron says an update might cure that.
When It Works, It Works
OK, I'm finished pointing out flaws. For all I know, they only apply to Windows users, and they'll hopefully be worked out as soon as the client app graduates from beta.
Truth is, I still use AirDisplay during a lot of the time I'm at my computer. Its App Store description seems to be written for the iPad version, which is probably more versatile simply because of its larger screen. But I still manage to get a lot of use out of the iPhone version. I use it as an always-on-top chat window, a place to set a mini media player control set, a to-do list pad, a spot for the tool palette when using photo applications, or any other time I need to give my desktop a few square inches of extra closet space.
And it doesn't turn the iPhone into a dumb screen, either. Touch still works -- you can move the cursor around with your fingertip, highlight text, click interface buttons, etc. Using a mouse or track pad, action is just a little jittery at times, but nothing that had me tearing my hair out.
AirDisplay abides either portrait or landscape orientation, and it can switch on the fly -- just rotate the iPhone and it resets itself. A small desktop control app that resides in the Windows 7 notification area lets you position the monitor wherever you want around your main and secondary displays. If you need to exit the application to do something like take a call, the app stays on in the background for a while, but it will shut off after several minutes of non-use to save power.
Speaking of power, AirDisplay eats up plenty of it, since it's basically taking in a constant WiFi stream. I recommend keeping the phone plugged into a charger during use (and perhaps buying or making an upright stand).
Bottom Line
Dealing with Avatron's less-than-smooth Windows beta software means taking on a few frustrations from time to time, but I still find myself going back to AirDisplay. It's just really nice having that extra corner of space, even if it's only a few inches across -- and even if it does throw up on itself occasionally.
Mac users may not have so many glitches, since the OS X versions of the desktop software are finalized.
As for PC users, a little extra caution is warranted until this beta turns into a full-grown app. It worked for me after trying a couple of times, but it might not work for you. Try downloading the free software off the website first and see if it installs properly before spending your money at the App Store.
