Celio Corporation announced “ScreenSlider,” software that allows Android devices to act as external touchscreen displays for Windows PCs. The company's technology is also being used in “Prodigy One Pro” automotive head units from Directus, designed to mirror output from a connected Android phone.

We first encountered Celio Corporation in the context of its Redfly (below left) and Redfly Dock (below right) devices, introduced in January 2007 and January 2009, respectively. The former was a netbook-like device with its own display, the latter a box featuring a VGA output, and both incorporated the company's "smartphone terminal" software.

Celio's Redfly (left) and Redfly Dock (right)

Both the Redfly and Redfly Dock were designed to connect to Windows Mobile phones, displaying their apps at resolutions up to 800 x 600 pixels (or, via also-available Redfly PC software, to 1024 x 768). The ahead-of-its-time concept didn't really take off, though Celio's website still touts the Redfly Dock and says it can now work with BlackBerry phones as well as Windows Mobile devices.

Turning its attention Androidwards, Celio has now quietly launched ScreenSlider, an application that allows a tablet or smartphone to act as a secondary display for a Windows computer. (ScreenSlider versions for the iPhone, iPad, "and other devices" will be available soon, the company adds.)

Celio's ScreenSlider in action

To use ScreenSlider, illustrated above and in the video at the end of this story, you first download a 99-cent host application from the Android Market. Designed to run on Android Honeycomb 3.0.1 and later tablets, ScreenSlider is also compatible with "most Android tablets and smartphones running Android version 2.2 or later," says Celio.

 You then run free client software on a Windows desktop PC or laptop (XP, Vista, or 7), which must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the phone. A control panel is used to tell the Windows computer whether the Android device is positioned to its left or its right.

While other applications available on the Android Market can accomplish the same trick, Celio says a $5 ScreenSlider Pro version of its software lets users control Windows apps via multitouch gestures. Pro functionality, which also includes the ability to create a connection from the Android device, is offered to purchasers of the ordinary edition free for 30 days, the company adds.

We tried ScreenSlider Pro by using it to connect an HP Pavilion dm1z laptop to a basic Android 2.1 phone, the Samsung Intercept (yes, no expense spared!). With this setup (pictured earlier), the software functioned, except that the secondary display wasn't assigned a resolution that was legible on the Intercept's 400 x 320 pixel screen! We're assuming this problem doesn't exist on mobile devices meeting the requirements listed earlier.

Automotive head units mirror Android displays

Automotive head units incorporating Celio technology are being shown off at the 2011 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas, which runs through Nov. 4, according to an item on the TeamNutzTechnology website. The "Prodigy One Pro" devices themselves run Android on a Freescale i.MX51 processor, the story says, and also use a version of Redfly software to mirror the output of a car occupant's smartphone.

The Prodigy One Pro's Celio-created MirrorLink software in operation
(Click to enlarge)

A separate article on the Satellite Radio Playground website says the Prodigy One Pro head units not only offer this "MirrorLink" software — which displays only "approved apps" — but also offer a mapping app. A text application reads SMS messages aloud and lets users answer by voice, author Amy Gilroy adds.

The website for Directus, the Linden, Mich.-based manufacturer of the Prodigy One Pro, still shows only the company's earlier Prodigy One devices, which reportedly run Windows CE. We're assuming from the TeamNutzTechnology and Satellite Radio Playground reports, however, that the Pro versions will be available in the same form factors. These include: a rear view mirror-mounted version; kits that work with Pioneer, Kenwood, Clarion, and Jensen radios; as well as drop-in replacements for Cadillac, Chrysler, Nissan, Scion, Volkswagen, and Volvo head units.

According to I>Satellite Radio Playground's Gilroy, prices will range from $899 for a kit for a Pioneer radio, to $3,500 for a complete Cadillac head unit. Availability is scheduled for the first quarter of 2012, she adds.

 

Further information

More information on Celio's ScreenSlider application may be found on the company's website.

Jonathan Angel can be reached at [email protected] and followed at www.twitter.com/gadgetsense.

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