Adding a second monitor to your current PC can be a good boost to boost your productivity, but before you go to an online store and hit the buy button, do you really need a dedicated monitor all the time? If not, and you have an Android smartphone or tablet in a drawer picking up dust, then we will teach you how to give it a second life using it as a secondary monitor for your PC.
Keep in mind that this situation is for specific cases, because if you intend to use a dual-monitor setup on your PC permanently, then you should definitely buy a second monitor, just because of the size of the screen. In any case, having an Android terminal as a secondary monitor for your PC can always be useful for small things, such as keeping your hardware monitoring always in view.
Use your Android terminal as a second monitor on the PC
Smartphones and tablets with Android operating system are quite versatile in terms of features, and the vast majority of them allow you to duplicate the PC screen on them or even extend the desktop. In general, you must install a “server” application on the PC and another “client” in the terminal to connect from one to the other, and once the software section has been arranged, you must either connect the device via USB to the PC or make sure that both are connected to the same local network .
Let’s see the options we have.
Spacedesk, free and works by WiFi
This is one of the most popular alternatives to convert an Android terminal into a secondary monitor for the PC, among other things because it is free. The terminal can be connected to the PC via USB, WiFi or LAN, the maximum resolution is quite decent and supports taps on the terminal’s touch screen.
Once installed and configured to connect both devices, if you want to configure it as a secondary monitor in extended desktop mode, you will need to do the manual configuration in Windows, just as if you were configuring a monitor as such.
Splashtop Wired XDisplay, free but only by USB
This option is also free, but it has the disadvantage that it only works through USB, so your Android smartphone or tablet must have this ability. This disadvantage is also an advantage, as there is much less delay and supports higher resolutions, including Full HD at 60 FPS. In addition, in case you have a Mac, it will also work because it has a native application, so it is not limited only to Windows PCs.
Google Remote Desktop, your Android device as a PC monitor
Surely, this is the most “native” option of this system, since it is specifically designed to connect Android devices to the PC. It literally connects to the PC via the remote desktop protocol, and the only requirement is that you have to have a GMail account to register and it works. Of course, it has the disadvantage that you will not have the option to extend the desktop, you will simply see the PC screen on your smartphone or tablet. In addition, it only gives the option to work over the Internet, there is no wired option, so the latency is considerable.
There are other applications that would allow you to connect your Android tablet or smartphone to the PC to act as secondary monitor such as Duet Display, Air Display 2 or iDisplay, but all of them are paid and taking into account that they do not offer anything additional to those that we have mentioned above, we believe that it is not worth listing them and opting for the applications that are free, since if you are doing this by reusing a terminal that you had in the drawer, it is not a plan to spend money.
