Liliputing

  • Reviews
  • Deals
  • How To…
  • Mini PCs
  • Shop
  • About
    • About Liliputing
    • Contact us
    • Advertise on Liliputing
    • Support Liliputing
    • Privacy Policy

MK802 $74 Android PC as a remote control for Windows apps, games

06/07/2012 at 4:00 PM by Brad Linder 14 Comments

The MK802 is a $74 mini PC running Google Android 4.0. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to play console video games or run Windows apps… kind of.

One of the first things people asked me after I posted a few videos of the MK802 in action was whether you could use remote desktop software on it to control a Windows PC, or the OnLive service to stream console video games over the internet.

Yes and yes.

MK802 OnLive

I tried a few different remote desktop solutions. TeamViewer is usually one of my favorites, but I found the Android app to be a little tough to control with a mouse pointer. It was clearly designed for finger input.

So I settled on Wyse PocketCloud, a free app that lets you login to a PC using a VNC server.

It took just a few minutes to install PocketCloud on my Windows machine and on the MK802. Once it was up and running I was able to easily control all my Windows apps from the Android user interface.

PocketCloud includes tools that let you simulate a right-click, bring up a keyboard, access Fn keys, and perform other actions that you might need to do on a Windows computer, but which you wouldn’t normally do on Android.

The page refresh rate is pretty slow, so I wouldn’t count on using PocketCloud to stream videos from your desktop PC to a display connected to the MK802. But if you want to access files or apps on your work computer, remote control a media player hooked up to a PC in another room, or do anything else where a remote desktop solution would come in handy, the MK802 can handle that.

I also installed the OnLive app which lets you play console-quality video games on an Android device by streaming them over the internet.

This lets you play a number of high quality games on Android even though those titles may not have actually been released for Android — although the graphics quality will vary depending on your internet connection speed.

Since I don’t have a USB video game controller handy I didn’t really try to play any games. OnLive includes on-screen controls, but they’re designed for multitouch and don’t seem like they’d be much fun to use with a mouse that can only click one point at a time.

But OnLive also has a mode that lets you watch other gamers as they play, and the app streamed live video of those game sessions smoothly. The app didn’t seem to slow down at all when I flipped from one video stream to the next, and I managed to peek in on half a dozen games in a minute or two.

If you have a supported game controller, I suspect you could use the MK802 Android 4.0 Mini PC as a tiny, cheap OnLive set-top-box. But the little computer did get very warm to the touch the longer I ran the OnLive app — something I’ve also noticed it do when streaming videos from YouTube or Netflix.

The MK802 features a 1.5 GHz Allwinner A10 ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of storage. Overall it offers the kind of performance you’d expect from an Android smartphone from 2010 — but that’s good enough for mediocre performance as a remote desktop machine.

You can pick one up from AliExpress for $74.

The Zero Devices Z802 is a similar device available from AsiaPads for $76. And OEM Systems Company is selling a $70 model with 1GB of RAM through Amazon.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Email

Daily Deals (2-20-2019)

Amazon is running a 1-day sale on networking and storage gear, which makes today a pretty good day to pick up a microSD card, portable hard drive, … [Read More...]



Support Liliputing

Liliputing’s primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the “Shop” button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we’ll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you’re using an ad blocker and hate online shopping.

Contribute via PayPal

  • donate monthly
  • donate once only
Select a Donation Option (USD)

Enter Donation Amount (USD)

Subscribe via Patreon

Become a Patron!

14
Leave a Reply

Login with
Facebook Google Twitter WordPress Yahoo! Disqus Reddit Stackoverflow GitHub
avatar
This comment form collects your name, email address, and content to allow us to keep track of comments placed on this website. Please read our privacy policy for more details.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser cookies for the next time I comment.
9 Comment threads
5 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
12 Comment authors
ColinZxanatos C. OmydaDroidMoteasterix183Roneng Recent comment authors
avatar
This comment form collects your name, email address, and content to allow us to keep track of comments placed on this website. Please read our privacy policy for more details.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser cookies for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
monopole
Guest
monopole
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Just got my MK802 this morning. A very impressive piece of work. I hadn’t considered using it for Remote Desktop use yet. It should be well suited to running an X11 client as well:
http://www.androidauthority.com/run-x-windows-x11-on-your-android-smartphone-2176/

One of my running interests in terms of multiple cheap tablets is to run separate windows from a single application on separate tablets. This would seem ideal for that.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
Bk
Guest
Bk
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Are you able to plug in a webcam and use tango or google talk apps for webcam chat?

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
Brad Linder
Guest
Brad Linder
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Send me a webcam and I’ll let you know 🙂

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
george
Guest
george
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Is there any way to control it via my android smartphone?
Since i do not have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse i want my phone to use it as the remote control to it.

Or is there any remote dedktop app for android devices among them?

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
CyberGusa
Guest
CyberGusa
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Yes, they do it with tablets for example with apps like “Tablet Remote”, “Webkey”, and other similar solutions.

Some may require root access but you should have that with this device.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
George
Guest
George
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Yeah tablet remote is the answer.
Since you plug it in the hdmi then you sit down on your sofa and enjoy it,via watching your movies,pictures,music etc.

Thanks man

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
Brian
Guest
Brian
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

curious if you can load 4 wire resistive touchscreen drivers on the device so that it could be used as a car pc with a Lilliput in dash monitor such as this one from mp3car.com
http://store.mp3car.com/Preassembled_Black_Double_Din_LCD_Frame_with_7_Li_p/mon-111.htm

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
Zxanatos C. Omyda
Guest
Zxanatos C. Omyda
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

I am interested in this idea. i am migrating my WIndows based setup to Android. These units would be awesome for that. Thing is most of the Car PC community use resistive. We would like to recycle them to use with these Android devices.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
Colin
Guest
Colin
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

doesn’t work…I’ve been trying for a while 🙁

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
mosamjc
Guest
mosamjc
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

I would try using Splashtop for remote work because of the higher framerate and remote sound output. You could play games much more smoothly that way.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
Guest
Guest
Guest
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Android os pc is really nice but i like windows most because still there are many things which must need to be added in Android os.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
Roneng
Guest
Roneng
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Anyone actually used another Android device to control the mk802 device. I tried some apps including Tablet Remote but none of them worked.
Thanks,
Ronen

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
asterix183
Guest
asterix183
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Hi, it’s possible to use an android device (my phone) like a remote keyboard for a mk802?

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago
DroidMote
Guest
DroidMote
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

you can see Onlive on Mk802 in action in this video:

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
6 years ago

Follow Liliputing:

Facebook Twitter YouTube tumblr RSS Patreon

Latest News

Samsung Galaxy S10 Bixby button can also launch other apps

Samsung really wants its customers to use its Bixby assistant software, which is … [Read More...]

Chrome OS 74 will enable audio for Linux apps

You can install and run Linux apps on most recent Chromebooks thanks to Google's … [Read More...]

Samsung Galaxy S10 5G has 6 cameras, a big screen, and a big battery

Samsung's Galaxy S10 series smartphones may pack a lot of features... but … [Read More...]

Featured articles

GPD MicroPC handheld computer preview

It's been a good couple of years for handheld computer enthusiasts. Companies … [Read More...]

Taihe Gemini portable 1080p touchscreen monitor preview

The Taihe Gemini portable monitor has made quite a splash since going up for … [Read More...]

Zotac Pico PI470 is a pocket-sized PC with Intel Amber Lake

Zotac's latest pocket-sized computer is the company's most powerful to date. … [Read More...]

Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by Skimlinks and Amazon's and eBay's affiliate programs.

Login

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2019 Liliputing · About Liliputing · Contact Us · Privacy Policy · Go to top of page

wpDiscuz
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.