Splashtop brings Win8 Metro Testbed to Android
We love Splashtop. A lot. Splashtop’s services tend to be a bit lopsided in the favor of iOS and the iPad, though, with apps like XDisplay still being iPad only. However, now there’s one less difference between the two OSes, as Splashtop’s Win8 Metro Testbed app has landed on Android tablets.
The app is the Android equivalent of the existing iPad app, and has the same goal: allow people, specifically developers and the like, to try out Windows 8’s tablet experience using an Android tablet (or an iPad). The app is essentially a specialized version of Splashtop proper, which makes sure that gestures and things like that carry over smoothly.
The price of the app, $50 with a $25-off sale just like on the iPad, might put people off, especially when the proper version of Splashtop is a lot less. To get the true Windows 8 experience this way, though, it’s the only real option, and in the grand scheme of things not very expensive for what it does. You could basically make your own Asus AiO this way, which in itself is something. Android also has the Transformer series to brag about, and an Android tablet that turns into a laptop is pretty much the perfect device to try an OS that is designed to be both a computer and a tablet OS.
This does seem to require a 720p screen, as even though my Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus qualifies as far as OS version goes, Google Play’s all-knowing compatibility check lists it as incompatible. You also need a computer with Windows 8 Release Preview running, as well as a wireless connection between the two.
[Google Play]
