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Hands-on: Windows or MacOS on your tablet, smartphone with PocketCloud

The app and cloud service makes remote desktop access nearly automatic.

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Wyse's PocketCloud Remote Desktop on the iPhone, here shown editing an image in Photoshop.
Wyse's PocketCloud Remote Desktop on the iPhone, here shown editing an image in Photoshop.

Yesterday, I went to my desktop to launch a few processes on my server, pulled up a document in Word to edit, and then mailed it off—all while I was parked in my car waiting for my kid to get out of school. I managed to do it from a remote desktop session running on my iPhone, courtesy of the iOS version of Wyse's PocketCloud, a set of iOS and Android apps and cloud services that make PC and Mac desktops accessible over a 3G or WiFi connection.

Wyse, which recently was acquired by Dell, is best known for its thin-client systems. [Full disclosure: I once worked for a Wyse value-added reseller, back when Wyse made PCs and Unix terminals; I try not to hold that past against them.] Dell is positioning Wyse as its "cloud client" unit in its bid to get more end-to-end virtualization business. And it's likely that PocketCloud—and the enterprise version Wyse has been working on—had something to do with that.

PocketCloud is not perfect. There are many things about it that show just how much of a work in progress it is. But warts and all, it's the easiest way I've seen to give individuals or small businesses the kind of virtual desktop infrastructure that big enterprises have. PocketCloud is clearly a proof of concept for something much bigger.

Packaged as a mix-and-match set of free and paid mobile apps for Apple iOS and Android, free client software, and free and premium cloud services, you can get started with PocketCloud casually at no cost. The Pro version of the PocketCloud Remote Desktop app allows you to add additional computers to your account—making it an intriguing tool for anyone who does small office desktop support or needs access to multiple consoles.

PocketCloud Remote Desktop uses well-established protocols for its remote desktop sessions—the Virtual Networking Protocol for MacOS clients and Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol for Windows. PocketCloud auto-discovers the settings for connecting to its own clients, but you can also manually configure connections to RDP, VNC, and VMware View-based virtual desktop infrastructure—making it a potential solution for mid-size organizations and enterprises who want to do something a little bit more structured for the "bring your own device" crowd than having them connect back to a desktop.

Using PocketCloud

I tested PocketCloud using an HP desktop and an Apple MacBook Air as my "servers," using the PocketCloud companion software to provide the connections. From the mobile side, I used an iPad 2 and an iPhone 4S, both over WiFi and 3G service. I had the limited-functionality, free version of the service up and running in less than five minutes, but ended up upgrading to the Pro version of PocketCloud Remote Desktop so that I could access multiple PCs. PocketCloud also offers a Web-based client, currently in beta.

There's also a $5-a-month premium cloud service that adds file browsing and transfer within the Pro client, and allows the free PocketCloud Explorer to access more than one PC; premium also allows larger file transfers, turns on video streaming over 3G and 4G from your PC, and enables a desktop search tool. There's also a Web front-end to the file service—a sort of personally hosted DropBox—that is currently in beta testing. And all these services tie to a single ID: your Google account.
The companion software for PocketCloud installs with a wizard; there's practically no configuration required unless you want to select specific port numbers for the supported protocol. The only mandatory input is your Google account data. When you launch PocketCloud Remote Desktop from your mobile device for the first time, you'll have to do the same to launch auto-discovery and access premium services.
The companion software for PocketCloud installs with a wizard; there's practically no configuration required unless you want to select specific port numbers for the supported protocol. The only mandatory input is your Google account data. When you launch PocketCloud Remote Desktop from your mobile device for the first time, you'll have to do the same to launch auto-discovery and access premium services.
Once you've entered your Google account credentials, the Remote Desktop client auto-discovers computers you've configured with the client. You still need to enter your login credentials for the remote PC or Mac to get access.
Enlarge / Once you've entered your Google account credentials, the Remote Desktop client auto-discovers computers you've configured with the client. You still need to enter your login credentials for the remote PC or Mac to get access.
PocketCloud Remote Desktop allows touch "clicks" on the screen, but if you need greater precision, there's the touch-driven mouse controller that drives the remote computer's mouse pointer.
Enlarge / PocketCloud Remote Desktop allows touch "clicks" on the screen, but if you need greater precision, there's the touch-driven mouse controller that drives the remote computer's mouse pointer.
Hit "connect," and you're prompted for the login credentials for your account on the remote computer. You can also save these values under the connection settings for the session.
Enlarge / Hit "connect," and you're prompted for the login credentials for your account on the remote computer. You can also save these values under the connection settings for the session.
You can bring up the app's virtual keyboard on demand. There is also a set of canned key-combinations for tasks like copy, paste, cut, and save at the ready under another toolbar.
Enlarge / You can bring up the app's virtual keyboard on demand. There is also a set of canned key-combinations for tasks like copy, paste, cut, and save at the ready under another toolbar.
The PocketCloud Remote Desktop in portrait view on the iPad. You can zoom and position the screen with the usual touch gestures.
The PocketCloud Remote Desktop in portrait view on the iPad. You can zoom and position the screen with the usual touch gestures.
The Pocket Cloud Explore app, shown here on the iPhone, gives you access back to files on your PC. You configure the companion app for the folders you want accessible, and can retrieve and launch them within iOS directly from your phone. Here, ironically, I'm grabbing a Word doc from my Mac's local SkyDrive folder and launching it in Pages on my iPhone (which will in turn save it to iCloud).
Enlarge / The Pocket Cloud Explore app, shown here on the iPhone, gives you access back to files on your PC. You configure the companion app for the folders you want accessible, and can retrieve and launch them within iOS directly from your phone. Here, ironically, I'm grabbing a Word doc from my Mac's local SkyDrive folder and launching it in Pages on my iPhone (which will in turn save it to iCloud).

As with any remote desktop session, PocketCloud's suffers from some latency (although I wasn't using the premium service in this test). But given that I was able to run remote sessions via a cellular data connection from my iPhone with relatively little difficulty, the latency issues are easily overlooked. And to help address the constraints of bandwidth, PocketCloud can automatically tune the frequency of screen refreshes and the resolution of other features based on available bandwidth.

For anyone who wants to experiment with supporting Windows or Mac desktops for iPad, iPhone, and Android users, PocketCloud is definitely worth a look just for its auto-configuration capability. And while the file-sharing capacity is constrained in size and bandwidth fairly severely if you don't opt for the premium service, having direct access to files in your desktop environment from your mobile device without having to sync via a specific folder may be worth the $5 a month all by itself.

Sean Gallagher Sean was previously Ars Technica's IT and National Security Editor, and is now a Principal Threat Researcher at SophosLabs. A former Navy officer, systems administrator, and network systems integrator with 20 years of IT journalism experience, he lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.

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