You have some great photos or videos on your phone but the screen is just not big enough to view and wondering what to do; well, you can view all these on your computer or laptop by converting your android phone into a modem temporarily. With an application called PdaNet you can stream data directly from your phone to your PC. The application is currently free of charge and can be downloaded from the Android Market.

Before you are able to use your phone as a data modem here are a few points to be considered; first your phone has to have an android OS, the PC that you want to tether, USB sync cable for your phone, PdaNet copy of your phone and PdaNet copy of your PC.

Installing PdaNet on your Phone

If you have all these in hand, then now you can begin by first installing the PdaNet. Go to ‘search’ on your phone and type PdaNet to display PdaNet options. Choose the June Fabrics Inc. option. The PdaNet allows you to access internet through your android phone. Bluetooth USB and DUN can be supported by the PdaNet and it does not need tethering or rooting. Click on ‘install’ to have the PdaNet application on your phone. With the PdaNet you can receive and read SMS and MMS. It also has access to your Network communications, your personal information, services you pay for like sending SMS and also your system tools. Finally, click on okay to finish the installation.

There may be duplicate copies of PdaNet on the Android Market so it’s safe to install the June Fabrics Technology inc. Run the application after finishing the installation.

To turn it on, tap on ‘enable USB tether’. As seen earlier, enabling it for the first time will prompt you to download desktop software. When you only have internet on your phone and not on your PC it can help to download and transfer the application to your computer. If the computer already has internet, then click on ‘No’ when it asks you to download the desktop software.

Install PdaNet on the Computer

No configuration is required and it’s not as cumbersome when installing the application. However, if you have the Android development toolkit on your PC you may encounter two issues. If abd.exe is running you may have to terminate it using task manager. You will be notified that Android drivers are already installed on your PC. When installation is complete the PdaNet icon will appear at the corner.

Enable the USB tethering cable and plug your phone to your Pc to connect internet. Right click and select connect internet if it doesn’t connect immediately. This is a great way of exploiting all your android phone’s features on a much larger screen and even gives you an advantage when you don’t have internet on your computer but your phone.