What is the best Smart Phone for remote viewing/control

[cah027 0]

I need to buy a new phone. I have never had a smart phone so this will be my first.

 

My question is, does it matter which phone I get? Will they all work the same with the software for remote view and controlling a PTZ cam ?

 

One of my main reasons for getting a smart phone is so I can monitor and access recordings..

 

Google is releasing a stock android version of the Galaxy S4 in June. Was thinking about getting one of those.

 

Any suggestions ?

[Peter_ 2]

Almost all the popular apps are available for iOS (iPhone/iPad/etc) and Android devices. Personally I like the iPhone apps Netcamviewer and QcamPro. Android has IP Cam Viewer which works well too. If you use blueiris software they have android and ios apps available. Most of the other viewing apps don't access past recordings - with the exception of mobotix apps and the Synology DS Cam software. So no, I wouldn't base your smartphone decision off a viewing app necessarily.

 

Also, there are apps that allow you to access your computer desktop remotely and you could view recordings that way. Just a thought.

[MaxIcon 0]

I use IP Cam Viewer Pro on the iPhone, and it works great. It's also available on Android.

[cah027 0]

Sweet. Thanks for the suggestions. I've been eying the galaxy phones, so I will prolly get one of those. I am thinking of switching from my NVR to BI so I will go that route and get a remote desktop app. I've always been a remote desktop user but the free ones like teamviewer and logmein no longer work for me. So it will be very cool to access my NVR PC from my phone.

[Kawboy12R 0]

I'll second IP Cam Viewer, both Lite and Pro. I use it on my Android phone and iPad.

[buellwinkle 0]

I have both an iPhone and a Droid Razr and hands down Android phones are better. It's rare these days that someone writes an app for IOS and not Android. My biggest frustration is ACTi that only has an IOS app.

 

Used to be that IOS did not have Flash, but luckily Android finally caught up and now it doesn't have flash either since version 4.0. If you need Flash, consider a Windows phone.

 

The one feature I look for and it started with Blackberry and moved to Android is a light to tell you when there's a message waiting. iPhones do not have this. Not all Android phones do either, so it's something I look for. For example, when I get an email on my iPhone and I miss the faint beep. I have to unlock the phone to see if there's any text or emails waiting. With my Droid, it has a light that blinks, for example, green if there's an email, purple if it's Yahoo Messenger.

 

Also, there's probably no other software in the world I hate more than iTunes. One reason I gave up my iPad for a Google Nexus. If I want to add songs or files to my Nexus, I just plug it in and it looks like a USB drive to my PC, just drop the songs, pictures, files in. Even firmware upgrades on my phone are direct, not manual through iTunes.

 

Lastly, for some reason, Apple is stuck on 4:3 aspect ratio on phones and tablets. This bugs me because most cameras now, most youtube videos, most video podcasts are in 16:9 format. I mostly watch podcasts on my tablet and watching with black bars like old analog TV's trying to watch HDTV format is to vintage for me.

[hotwire 0]

+1 for IP Camera Viewer Pro by Robert Chou. It works great and the app is updated regularly to support new cameras.