Access the PC's desktop via your mobile phone

Supplier: Soonr
Web site: Soonr.com
Price: n/a (still in beta)

HOW MANY times have you been travelling and required urgent access to a document on your home or office PC? Well, Soonr has come up with a solution that provides just that sort of access – via any kind of portable device.

Indeed, the company claims that Soonr is compatible with at least 600 leading smartphones and feature phones. It automatically detects what kind of terminal you have and renders information for the handset's display accordingly.

The software has been designed to work with mobile phones so it will function over a GPRS or 3G connexion but it can be used with whatever comms link you have. So, if you have a mobile with a Wi-fi capability, you can use that. In fact, you can check the service out by logging in via a desktop computer and broadband should you so chose.

Soonr is actually designed as a white label product to be resold by mobile operators but the INQ was able to download a beta version of the software and try the service out.

Essentially what you do is connect your Windows PC or Mac to Soonr's servers and share the parts of your desktop you think you'll need to access.

So the INQ connected Microsoft Outlook as the email software and the 'Documents' file as the valuable information. Significantly, the software also detected that Google Desktop Search was installed and adding that functionality as well. It works with Windows Desktop Search, too.

The product which Soonr most closely resembles is Gotomypc available from Citrix. The disadvantage to that product is that it requires the remote PC to be powered up and the broadband link to be active.

That can be a pain as the PC can crash or the broadband link can go down.

Soonr gets around this problem because in effect you back up all the necessary files to the company's servers. So if your PC goes down, you can still look at a saved copy of the file.

Backing up is a lengthy process, however. The software estimated it would take 35 hours to back up the 2.8 GB of data the INQ decided to share.

Looking at the files on a smartphone's screen – in this case a Nokia E61 – was very easy. It works very well and the INQ particularly appreciates the ability to use Goggle Desktop Search remotely.

One of the aims with Soonr is to enable other ISVs to write applications that run on top of what the company claims is its 'cloud computing service'. The company says it will add a 'search in the cloud' facility – whatever that means.

Hopefully, INQ readers won't have to wait to long for their network operator to offer a service based on Soonr. Lucky subscribers to CSL's network in Hong Kong won't have to wait too long because that operator is set to launch a service called Get&Share based on Soonr's technology any time now.

Although Soonr is working with Verisign to ensure that remote data is safe, there will still be some paranoid IT managers who will feel too unhappy about precious data being held elsewhere. Which would be a shame.

As far as the INQ can work out, however, anybody can sign up for the beta now. Better still you can use Soonr to send up to 100 texts for free. µ

The Good
Remote access still works even if the remote computer is offline

The Bad
Initial backup takes ages

The Ugly
IT manager will probably want to ban it