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| Source: http://www.slagermanphoto.com/blog/wp-content/uploads//2010/05/android_tethering2.jpg |
“How do you hook up your laptop to your phone?” asked a colleague who had just invested in an Android phone. She was sporting the new buy one-get one free Samsung Vibrant from T-Mobile and curious about what apps to install…it made my Motorola Cliq look like a brick!
[Program Name] shares your Android smartphone connection with your PC. This app allows you to tether your Android to a desktop or a notebook computer. EasyTether uses exactly the same data plan that is used for the on-phone Internet access like in the built-in browser or e-mail app or youtube application. No additional tethering fees.
The two main competitors that I know about and discuss here–share if you know others that don’t involve “rooting” your Android phone–include (in alpha order) Easy Tether and PDAnet. Both are great products and I confess that both will remain on my phone, although I’m sharing my preferred selection in this blog entry.
| Feature |
EasyTether
 |
PDAnet |
| Web Site | http://www.mobile-stream.com/easytether/android.html | http://www.junefabrics.com/android/ |
| Cost | $9.99 per phone. Rating: Superior |
$15.95 for license. Rating: Good* |
| License | Uses your IMEI number to track the license per phone. Rating: Good |
*You can use it on any phone and install the client software on any computer. Consider this when rating the cost. Rating: Superior |
| Installation | Download the app on your phone, install the driver on your computer, start the app on the phone while connected via USB to your computer, and it works. | Download the app |
| Operating System Compatibility | Windows Macintosh UbuntuLinux Rating: Superior |
Windows Macintosh Rating: Good |
| Phone Compatibility | Android Blackberry Palm OS Windows Mobile Rating: Good |
Android iPhone Blackberry Palm OS Windows Mobile Rating: Superior |
| Usability | You can turn tethering on by simply connecting your phone via USB and activating the EasyTether App on your phone. To turn off the tethering, just quit the program. | You turn on tethering by connecting the phone and turning on the app, enabling USB tether (bluetooth also supported), then connecting on your desktop. |
| Comments | I found this to be much easier solution to implement and convenient. . .no need to mess with control panels, etc. It just worked, which was a pleasant surprise. |
This solution involved a bit too many steps to get tethered and I found it cumbersome at times, especially when the desktop program would quit unexpectedly. |
| Overall | For Android phones only, I’d buy EasyTether due to the lower cost. Since I work on all 3 operating systems, this is now my tethering app of choice. | Great choice but it needs some work on minimizing the steps involved to get it working and crashing (on a Mac…no problems on Windows). |
What are you using and would you consider switching based on the recommendation in this blog entry?
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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure
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