Control your BlackBerry from your computer

There were days when an app such as TinyController wouldn’t have made much sense. Most BlackBerry owners were the traveling types. They needed their BlackBerry devices in order to check email from remote locations. But as smartphones became more ubiquitous, more and more desk workers started to carry them. That rendered them mostly useless for eight hours a day, as you don’t need to check email on your BlackBerry while your desktop is in front of you. But there are certain things you can do on your BlackBerry that you can’t do on your computer. Or, alternatively, there are items on your BlackBerry that are not on your computer. That’s when TinyController comes in handy. What do you have to gain from having access to your BlackBerry from your desktop? We can start with the most popular BlackBerry app of all time: BBM. You can have conversations (though not group conversations) with your contacts right on your computer. That’s quite a bit easier than working at your computer and picking up your BlackBerry every few minutes. In fact, you can run a number of instant messaging clients, which could come in handy if your office doesn’t allow you to install them. (Of course, if that’s the case you’ll have to ask your IT department for permission to install TinyController. But something tells me you’ll have something of an easier time convincing them of that.) One feature that I can see getting plenty of play is screenshots. While there are a number of quality screenshot applications for your BlackBerry, I’ve never liked one as much as BBScreenShooter. TinyController mimics that app, allowing you to grab screenshots from your BlackBerry directly to your computer. This is useful for making tutorials, since you’ll manipulate the image on your desktop, anyway. Have a presentation coming up? Sure, there’s BlackBerry Presenter, but if you don’t have the money or inclination to pick up that accessory, you can just use TinyController. Since your screen displays on your laptop, you’ll be able to run demonstrations either on your laptop screen, or through your laptop to a projector. You can probably think of a dozen more ways to use this app. Once you figure out how you’ll use it, you can get TinyController for $9.99. You’ll also have to download the desktop app, which you can get at http://tinycontroller.com. You can get a 14-day free trial there as well. TinyController is compatible with Windows XP and better, and Mac OS X 10.6 or better.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.