Preface

A few days ago, I came across a desktop console online that looked quite beautiful on the desk. With a simple touch, it could perform various operations, but its price was far from beautiful.

I initially thought about making one myself, but someone like me, a humanities major, knows nothing about circuitry, so that idea was quickly dismissed. Instead, I turned my attention to the phone that had been gathering dust for years. I could simulate a console on my phone, which led to the creation of today’s app: Desktop Navigation.

Application Download

Android (Portrait): Main Link
Android (Landscape): Main Link
HarmonyOS (Portrait): Main Link
HarmonyOS (Landscape): Main Link

HarmonyOS version has not been tested; only some interface codes were modified according to Huawei’s requirements, so unknown bugs may occur. The HarmonyOS and Android versions are not compatible.

Design

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to wdmomo for providing the interface design.

Canvas 1

This app comes in two versions: a landscape version and a portrait version, which are two separate apps, both named Desktop Navigation, but they can be installed simultaneously. The one with a white background is the portrait version, while the one with a colorful background is the landscape version.

Features

The features of this app, as you may have seen in the promotional video, allow you to press the corresponding buttons on your phone, and the corresponding applications will launch on your computer. The principle behind it is quite simple. First, the phone requests the application list from the computer. After receiving the data, the phone displays it. When a button is pressed, the phone sends a command to the computer, which is then received and executed by the computer-side program. The code is essentially the same as the frontend, and it’s quite straightforward to write.

There are two small details I’d like to share. One is that the phone vibrates when a button is pressed, providing a tactile feedback. The other is that the software includes a variety of animation effects. I’ve imported all effects from animate.css except for the out effects, and these animations play when icons appear. With so many animation effects, you’ll have plenty to keep you entertained for a day.

User Guide

PC Side

Mobile Side

The app automatically redirects to the settings page upon first launch.
Enter the IP address of your computer and click Submit.
You can start using it on the main page.

To reconfigure the address, simply click Settings to return to the settings page.

About Advanced Features

Currently, the PC host machine does not support code insertion, but we can take a different approach by packaging the desired functionality into a .exe file and pointing to it in the configuration path.