Opinion
Android tablet's screen connected to Windows laptop with SpaceDesk
When I travel, I usually take a Windows laptop and an Android tablet, and it has long seemed to me that sensible that the tablet ought to be able to work as a second screen for the laptop. Having two screens is one serious productivity boost.
(Some years ago, I had bought an external screen for the laptop, and it proved to be a life saver during a business trip to Europe when I was also on a tight book deadline. The main screen was running InDesign, while the secondary one handled the software I was writing about.)
Luna Display - $80
So, I hunted around for a solution. First, I tried Luna Display.
It connects wirelessly, and while it works with Windows computers (and USB-C ports), the company never supported Android tablets -- only iPads and Macbooks.
So, that was disappointing, and $80 lost.
https://astropad.com/product/lunadisplay/
SplashTop Wired XDisplay - Free for 10 Minutes
Then I came across SplashTop. You download a program to the Windows computer, and an app to the Android tablet (or phone). As well, you need to turn on USB Debugging mode on the Android -- that's probably the trick they use to display the Windows screen remotely.
I liked the potential of SplashTop, because it runs over a USB cable. That's much faster than wirelessly. With the added bonus that the laptop charges the tablet's battery at the same time!
After I got it working, it stopped working. I couldn't get it to work with Extended Screen mode, then I couldn't get it work work at all. The final straw was noticing the small print at the bottom of the Android screen that it would run for only 10 minutes in free mode. I uninstalled it on both machines.
https://www.splashtop.com/wiredxdisplay
SpaceDesk - Free For the Rest of the Year
SpaceDesk is very much like SplashTop, except that it works:
- Connect with a USB cable or wirelessly
- Free until the end of the year; $20 for the paid version, which adds no features, other than to get rid of the nag screen and to enable password protection.
- SpaceDesk works with Windows/Macs, and Android/iPad, as well as an HTML5 version that works in Web browsers
Configuring the SpaceDesk display driver
The software comes from Datronicsoft, a German company, which was reassuring to me. The steps to install it are as follows:
- On the Windows laptop, download and install the SpaceDesk display driver from https://spacedesk.net/downloadidd64
- On the Android device, download and install the SpaceDesk app through Google's Play Store
- Connect a USB cable from the laptop to the tablet. (USB Debugging mode is not required.)
- Start the Android app, and click the IP address listed, which is the IP address of the laptop (see figure at the top of this article)
- In Windows, go to Settings > System > Display, and set up how the position and resolution of the Android screen
- Also in Windows, open the SpaceDesk Driver Console program, and turn on USB Cable Android (see figure above)
TIPS As a shortcut, press Windows+P to select Extended display mode.
It is helpful if your laptop and Android tablet have a similar resolution. In my case, the laptop runs at 2736x1824, while the Android is 2048x1536 -- close enuff.
Your mouse and keyboard will work on both screens. With the USB cable connection, I found that there is just about zero lag on the Android screen.
The $20 (+tax) price is cheap enough that I paid for it, although I should warn you that is for connecting to just one Android device connected to your Google account -- good enough for me. For 5 devices (also all on the same Google account), the price goes up to $60.
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