There was one time…

… when I just finished a project and decided to sign off from work. Confident that everything had been uploaded, I drove off to meet my friends about 2 hours away from home. I didn’t notice somehow I (stupidly) forgot to upload the files into our development server. My phone rang and it was our Lady Boss (Shaza: I wonder who this Lady Boss is) asking the link to the project that I have done earlier. She needed it because my team is ready to review the work.

I told her I would send the link through Whatsapp. So I proceeded to verify the link on my phone and noticed that the latest files were not there. I felt like I’m somehow intoxicated by Ghom’s Poison (Diablo 3 was not released yet at that time, but that is the equal thing). At the end, I screwed up. The worst part is I screwed up not because I didn’t finish my job, but just because I couldn’t access my computer using my smartphone for the files.

Did I drive back home 2 hours for the files, you were asking? Yes *facepalm*

But we have cloud storage!

I’m not a big fan of cloud storage (can’t resist Cloud 9 though!). Even worst, if I want to sync it on cloud storage, it will be the revised, polished and final .zip file meant for clients unless clients requested to sync it on cloud while work in progress. Since the project is not reviewed yet, I have not even thought to sync it.

Old story

Well, it was back then. When I just started working with Stampede.

Now, things have changed. Last month, I’ve been in the same exact situation. The only different is I was well prepared this time!

I have assigned two padawans to deal with it.

Accessing your computer using smartphone with Teamviewer

Teamviewer has been around for quite some time. Easy to use, simple and capable to store your computer on your Teamviewer Account.

What I need to do is just launch it on my Note 3 (this is the time when big screen comes in handy) and log in to my account. It will list all the computers that I’ve stored. Tap on it and it will let you remote that workstation.

Access computer using smartphone with Teamviewer

Accessing your computer using smartphone with Chrome Remote Desktop

Earlier this year, I discovered Chrome Remote Desktop. It is similar to Teamviewer but it is much simplified. And quite fast too!

Access computer using smartphone with Chrome Remote Desktop on mobile

Both of them are capable to let you access your workstation from anywhere around the globe, with Internet connection of course. They are not limited to just grabbing files. You can do everything such as scanning virus, grab passwords stored on your computer, troubleshoot computer, etc. in essence – you can easily access your computer using smartphone even if you are miles away. How about that?

There are several other applications that allow you to access computer using smartphone remotely but for me, I’ll stick with this two for time being.

What about you? Are there any applications you have been using to access your computer remotely via your smartphones? Please share!

(First image credit: Startup Stock Photos)

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But how about if you own one of those Android devices which don’t have NFC or the equivalent technology – for example Samsung Galaxy S2.

First off, you need to check if your device runs on Android version 4.0 above, because this is where SuperBeam can perform the magic for you. While it is still using NFC to communicate, it is also offering another method to communicate between devices which is designed exclusively for devices that don’t have NFC.

How does it work?

You can use SuperBeam to scan QR code on other devices via SuperBeam app. It will communicate between devices using Wifi Direct once you scanned the QR code. This process is actually fully automatic without the need to do anything – not to mention it can share multiple files too! Imagine the convenience it offers.

Scanning QR Code to start communication

Transfer in progress

Conclusion

I have found that this app has been a great help especially when I need to transfer video or large images to other devices. It’s painlessly easy to use – just with simple tap, it will transfer your selected files for you within minutes. And yes, it is totally free!

Do you have any other method you use to transfer large files between your mobile devices?

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My SGS2 was about 11 months old when this problem became serious; WiFi totally stopped working. The symptoms however started to show around the 9th and 10th month, that was about a month after updating my phone to ICS. It started off with WiFi connection becoming unstable and difficult to connect. A few weeks later, the WiFi itself became almost impossible to turn on both via the widgets and phone settings screen. Instinctively, you would try to fix this by restarting or switching off your phone. It only worked for a while. Then I resorted to “factory reset” the phone, rooting, installing custom kernels and ROMs but nothing worked because the WiFi is totally dead.

I finally decided to turn my phone in for repairs at Samsung service centre about 3 weeks later because the phone is still under warranty. They confirmed the mainboard needs to be replaced. The faulty component was the button cell (called BAT500) leaking acid on the circuit board and the WiFi I/C that happened to be located adjacent to the battery was affected.

The SGS2 mainboard with the arrow showing the leaky battery BAT500

Close-up of the leaky battery BAT500 and the WiFi chip on its left.

My phone is back to normal now. As soon as I got it back, I flashed it to GB. Well, we’ll see.

Ultimately, the main culprit is heat but what leads to the problem could be a couple of things; ICS, 3^rd party apps, user usage behavior, poor battery built quality or maybe random defective products. Anyway, if your are one of those people with this problem and your phone is still under warranty, send it for repairs ASAFP!

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