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Droid Explorer lets you manage your rooted Android phone from Windows Explorer
The tools provided by Droid Explorer range from the very handy (browsing the file system, installing/uninstalling apps, backing up and syncing your data) -- through to the positively power useresque (debug console, ROM updating, SQLite exploring). Needless to say, at least half of the tools can probably brick your phone, so be careful.
You can also send SMS massages (though I didn't get this to work), capture screenshots and video (like other tools of this ilk, it's still only a few frames per second) -- and, most importantly, you can even shut down your phone! Never again do you have to click through a bunch of menus to shut down your phone.
Despite how awesome it all sounds, don't get too excited: Droid Explorer is beta software and unless you have one of the confirmed-compatible devices, it might simply refuse to work. It only half-worked with my cheap-and-cheerful LG smartphone, but it's possible that I botched one of setup steps.
The installer took a few attempts (and reboots) before it would play ball. And even then, you still need to root your phone and install BusyBox! Being able to really manage your phone from a Windows PC really makes all the pain worthwhile, though.
Comments
17
Subscribe to commentsS4RsOct 25th 2010 3:02PM
Wow. Just imagine this working over Wifi!
ScrewdriverClockOct 25th 2010 3:25PM
So android phones will give massages over SMS? Awesome. I might get one!
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2010 3:28PM
It's an SMS that massages you... duh!
Robert KimmelOct 25th 2010 3:54PM
Exactly what is an SMS massage?
Karate TortoiseOct 25th 2010 5:13PM
You send out a bunch of text messages, stick your phone in your pants and wait for the replies. Its common practice among most men
nikescarOct 25th 2010 4:21PM
It refuses to install on my Windows 7 x64 system. It keeps cough up unhandled exception errors.
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2010 4:57PM
Yeah, I had issues too. The standalone installer worked, with only 'plugins' enabled during the install. I think it also worked with the 'service'...
Stephen AOct 25th 2010 4:29PM
I tried this a while back. I didn't read that it needed the phone to be rooted or I wouldn't have bothered.
But I'm glad I did because I found that although most of it didn't work, the screenshot and recording functions worked fine on my Wildfire and I made a couple of videos.
kojo87Oct 25th 2010 4:36PM
how risky is rooting? i keep trying to talk my friend into rooting his Incredible but he is convinced he will break something. not having an Android phone myself, (stuck on this stupid BlackBerry with AT&T until May. really happy i signed that contract...) i can't really prove to him that its safe.
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2010 5:08PM
Fairly safe! The resources are very comprehensive for most popular phones (and you saw the 'SuperOneClick' root-anything app I wrote about last week?)
I think one phone has an auto-brick thing if you root it... but I'm not sure which one. Droid 2?
kojo87Oct 25th 2010 5:17PM
i did see that. all these awesome Android posts and i still have this damn BlackBerry. can't wait til next year when i can get a new phone. Android and Windows Phone 7 should both provide some super interesting options.
i'll pass this info on to my friend. maybe i can finally persuade him to finally take full advantage of his superphone.
i think the autobricking phone is the Droid X but i could be wrong. i am fairly certain it is one of the Droids anyway.
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2010 5:41PM
Droid X! That's the one. I think.
I actually use a Sony Ericsson day-to-day -- also because of a contract! But come January... we'll see what's available then :)
Johan GustavssonOct 25th 2010 4:41PM
Does it work on win7 x64?? otherwise it's a no no...
Sebastian AnthonyOct 25th 2010 5:08PM
Yes, but I had issues installing (see comment above)
Karate TortoiseOct 25th 2010 5:16PM
This comes at the most inconvenient of times for me. I finally root and rom my phone last week, within 2 days i hear that my phone is finally getting the OTA update to 2.2, and within 24 hours of unrooting my phone i see this.
riskOct 25th 2010 11:19PM
any rom that you get OTA can't be as good as a custom rom. no matter what.
twe4kOct 26th 2010 4:06PM
alright, you probably can't do as many things with this one but hey, at least it works over wifi AND with a whole bunch of phones, contrary to droid explorer
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/android-manager-wifi-syncs-transfer-files-wirelessly-to-windows-pc/