While other RDP solutions already exist for the iPhone, iTap RDP client has just stepped up the bar for the competition. By combining 5 years of experience with the Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) protocol with the powerful gesture based interface of the iPhone and iPod Touch, HLW has created a new way to interact with your Windows desktop.
The first thing noticed when using iTap RDP is that it is fast. It uses about half the bandwidth of other clients, which translates to a faster user experience, especially over 3G networks. The new version is reducing traffic on 3G networks even further, by dynamically lowering color depth and screen resolution (this can be turned off by the user).
Figure 1 - Even media-rich websites pose no problem to iTap RDP
The next thing one notices is the complete absence of any bars, buttons or other interface features from the screen, and this is where iTap RDP really shines. While the low bandwidth and high security (it is the only client which supports 140bit FIPS compliant encryption) work under the hood, the small screen and user interface is something that you have to work with all the time. HLW has taken all controls which would take away precious screen space, and instead replaced them with convenient gestures. If you need a keyboard, just swipe three fingers down the screen. If you want move around the screen, just drag and pinch, to pan and zoom.
One of the most problematic areas with iPhone RDP clients are the size of typical windows controls. While intuitive, the interface of the iphone lacks the precision needed to click small buttons, or navigate menus. All iPhone clients support simple zooming, but doing so makes the screen even smaller, to the point where even a short menu is too large to fit. This is where the unique scope mode comes in. By holding down a finger for a short while, a small magnifying scope pops up, and follows your finger around. This gives you precise control over the mouse cursor even when zoomed out to view the complete desktop. Of course you can still click or even perform drag-and-drop operations while the scope is visible.
Figure 2 - Navigating the start menu with the scope works well, even on a shrunk screen
While these are the most obvious advantages of iTap RDP, a lot of the work went into the details. Some of the features are not even obvious at first glance. It is for example the only client which supports the automatic reconnect feature of Windows. This means that you do not have to enter your username and password all the time, even though they are not stored on the client. If you press the home button on your phone to perform some other task, and then come back to iTap RDP a little later, you are automatically connected to the session you were working on, and restored to the exact same position you left. It also has full support for international keyboards, including the auto completion of Chinese and Japanese scripts.
Figure 3 - Full international keyboard support
That it supports all Versions of Windows, including Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 goes without saying, but iTap RDP also supports all iPhone OS versions, from 2.0 to the newly released 3.0.
Here is again a quick overview of iTap RDP Features:
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Unique scope mode for precise control of your desktop!
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60% less bandwidth than any other RDP client on the iPhone. This means twice the speed over slow networks!
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Automatic bandwidth reduction on 3G networks
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Automatic reconnect without needing to enter passwords
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Highest security (all RDP encryption methods, including 140bit FIPS compliant encryption)
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Full international keyboard support
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Fully gesture based for maximum screenspace
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Compression and persistent Bitmap Cache for reduced bandwidth
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8, 15, 16 and 24bit color modes
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Convenient server search and reachability tests for bookmarks
To learn more and to download please visit the following resources:
About HLW
HLW is a software development company based in Vienna, Austria. We offer custom software development and, while we have experience in a wide variety of different areas, we specialize in development for Adobe inDesign, as well as RDP related products. We have been the main developers behind Thinstuff LX Server, the first (and still only) RDP terminal server for Linux. Before developing the iTap RDP client, we have developed iTap touchpad, a remote touchpad application for the iPhone and iPod touch, using the same intuitive gesture interface.