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I have a new Kogan TV (KALED39SMTWA) that has Android 4.0.3 installed. I would like to control the Android system on the TV from my Android-based phone. I have tried the following applications.

  • XBMC - Has a great remote and good interface, but I would like to control the whole Android system, not just an application.

  • DroidMote - Has a server application that will only run as root. (Yes, I could root the TV, but that's effort)

  • TeamViewer - Only offers remote control through view and click.

I understand that sending keypresses and controlling the Android system may require root due to the need to interface with the Android system, but I'm sure there would be a way to do this without root and Android to Android should be very compatible.

Suggestions?

Andrew T.
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Christopher Wilson
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4 Answers4

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I just briefly read through the manual for your television found at Kogan's website, and as far as I can tell, the only available connection interface other than the typical IR used by remote controls is network-based. That means whatever application you use has to be supported both by the serving device (i.e. your TV) as well as use the local network protocol, much like the Netflix application has recently built in.

From what I read about DroidMote, it's going to be similar to TeamViewer, however you have the added downside of needing root, which I understand you're attempting to avoid.

I'm not necessarily presenting a suggested solution here, but I did want to call out some of the limitations I've spotted while digging. I think you've listed the best out-of-the-box options thus far, so I'm afraid I have no additional suggestions beyond.

Good luck.

Zuul
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jsparks
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If your device supports Google TV, you could try the Google TV Remote app.

Andrew T.
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German
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There are a number of apps, like RemoDroid, DroidMote, Tablet Remote, and even a number of VNC servers, most of them requiring root access, and those that don't require root access have fairly limited features.

Andrew T.
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Trylks
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0

You can also use ADB? This doesn't require root, though you will need to have DevOps enabled and USB Debugging enabled. You can send keystrokes or even directly call intents/deeplinks/activities through ADB; here is a generic list of commands. Note that this is much easier to use on a PC as you can bind these to shortcuts or hotkeys (e.g., through AHK and/or RainMeter), but it's still possible to invoke through an Android mobile device. I've never looked into it, but it's possible there may be an application or other method to bind these to shortcuts within Android OS as well!

EDIT: Also, note that some devices (e.g., Samsung Note 4) come with an IR blaster on-board, and there are also dongles that cost around $10 on Amazon as well.

Arctiic
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