Vysor

Vysor is an innovative app that gives you an unprecedented amount of connectivity between your conventional laptop or desktop and your mobile device. While there's a lot of talk about the Internet of Things, a lot of times how that actually works can seem ambiguous. While smart homes and virtual assistants seem to represent the future of our relationship with technology, they're still a little ways off before they're omnipresent factors in the life of the common person. But the IoT manifests in more practical terms as well.Take Vysor for instance. This cool little app lets you access the information on your phone through your computer in a number of meaningful ways, allowing you to get the best of both worlds. While mobile devices are naturally more accessible and convenient than traditional computers, that small size comes at a cost. Whether you're looking to play your Android games on a big monitor or draft up emails or texts in an easier to process format, Vysor can help you out with that.

To be honest, what Vysor is doing here isn't unprecedented, but the level of convenience by which they allow you to connect your most used devices is brand new. Previous Android and iOS emulation devices typically required root access or a costly subscription plan. And even when they worked, they generally were unresponsive and sluggish. Vysor runs quickly right from the start. It operates directly out of Chrome, and as soon as you start up the app, connect your Android via USB, and turn off debugging, your phone's screen will pop up immediately on your remote screen. The advantages here are obvious. Texts and emails can be typed out with a proper keyboard and mouse, games can get a whole new level of fidelity on a bigger monitor, and managing files on your mobile device (or transferring files back and forth between phone and computer) can be accomplished in a fraction of the time. Vysor runs on both macOS and Windows as a dedicated software platform or through any computer that can run Chrome. Particularly neat is the option to share your phone's desktop with other users and let them interact with it as well.

Both a free and paid version of Vysor are available, and while the fundamentals of the software are present in the freeware version, it's missing out on a lot of the coolest features. Paid users can connect wirelessly with their phone, and if you want to use this service regularly, that's practically a necessity. Since tethering requires the micro USB to be connected to your computer rather than a fast charger, it has a tendency to wear down a phone's battery with quickness. Premium users also get access to higher quality resolutions, full screen mode, and drag and drop functionality.