BibleWorks and Logos on Android (sort of...)

I'm still trying to catch up on stuff from SBL last November, but here's a quick note I can post. 

In the past I have used Logmein for remote access to the various family computers I maintain. Even the basic free account lets me take over a computer and run programs on it. It works great and is secure. I will continue to use it for such maintenance tasks. Note that this can work the other way around, and what a program like this allows me to do is run programs that are on my home system from any other computer. As long as I have my home system on and Logmein enabled, I can remotely connect to my home system and use my installed programs like BibleWorks or Logos. I've also used it to grab files I've forgotten on my home computer when I'm at school. (I now use SugarSync to keep my systems all in sync via the cloud. It's a wonderful thing.) It's a little slow to use Logmein this way, but it works. What this also means is that I can use the web browser on my smartphone and see BibleWorks on my phone. I say "see," because without the use of a mouse on my phone, I really can't do too much. Logmein does have an Android app ($29), but I just don't use it that much, especially on my phone, to buy it.

I was pleased, therefore, to discover Splashtop Remote Desktop when it showed up as the free app of the day on the Amazon Appstore. (It's now $1.99.) As you can see in the photo above, that's BibleWorks running on my Droid X. It's the same sort of deal where you install the app and then also install the software on your computer and establish a secure password connection. Again, keep in mind that the home system also has to be on and have Splashtop enabled. The nice thing about Splashtop is that it is designed for touch screens. It uses all sorts of single and double finger gestures to scroll, expand the screen, emulate left/right mouse clicks, etc. It works quite well, even on my phone.(The only issue I had is that Splashtop could only see the primary monitor in my dual monitor setup, so I had to move BibleWorks over.) Below, you can see how the Droid X is duplicating my computer monitor. I suspect that this would look much better on a tablet rather than a smartphone. BTW, Splashtop is available for WinXP or better, Android (2.2 Froyo or better), iPhone, iPad, and Mac OS.

I do have other Bible apps on my Droid--OliveTree, CadreBible, YouVersion, Logos. (Check here for my evaluations though I need to update them all. It's coming...) None of these Android versions have the power of a dedicated Bible software program. With Splashtop, however, I can access the power of the full program. (The Logos Android app is slowly gaining capabilities, but it still has a long way to go.) I'm not anticipating BibleWorks to release an Android version, but if you really, really want BW or the full Logos (or Accordance for you Mac users!) program on your phone or tablet, this is a way to do it.