Way back in January of last year we reported on a brand new tool which allowed you to connect your PC web browser and Android smartphone together easily, so you could send files and notes between the two. At the time we said “all in all this is one of those apps which creeps up on you…” Boy were we right. The developer has been very busy over the past 19 months, and has turned a nice utility into a must-have essential tool for anyone using an Android or Apple smartphone or tablet.
Pushbullet has grown up a lot. Instead of just connecting a browser and Android phone, the free software is now a complete environment, which will let you connect and share data between a whole raft of devices, including laptops, iPhones, Android phones and tablets, Windows PCs and soon Mac computers. I currently use it all the time to send stuff instantly between PC, phone and TV Android box. Like a map reference, or photo, recipe or shopping list.
The developer has also really beefed up the kind of data you can transfer. Now you can instantly send photos, music files, web links, notes, documents, you name it. All of which makes this an absolute beauty if you need to send across data easily from computer to phone and back again. You don’t have to connect your devices with a cable, or fire up Bluetooth, just click on the Pushbullet icon – or right mouse select the file or highlighted data – and hit send.
As if that wasn’t enough, the system now retains all your ‘pushes’ on your web server account, so you can keep track of everything you’ve sent, and to which device. This is absolutely brilliant if you’re trying to manage a family’s worth of devices, and need to track what’s going where. And it’s great for small businesses too, especially since you can now add ‘friends’ to your list of devices, and send stuff to them too. This means all you need is an email address to link a device, and as long as the friend is also running Pushbullet, they’re now in your little private data sharing network.
A recent feature which has just been added is even more valuable. Pushbullet will automatically push all your phone notifications to your computer screen, so you can view things like text messages, alarms, and phone actions (like auto updating of apps in the background) on a small pop up box on the desktop as they happen. This means you’ll never miss an important call or text just because your phone is in your bag or the next room while you work on your computer. What’s more, you can now (since two days ago) reply to a pop up SMS text message directly from your computer, which is actually just too much cool to handle in one lifetime.
Bottom line? You’ve got to download and install this now, if you want to give your devices more connectivity than they’ve ever had, and make your life so much easier. The software connects via your Gmail account, which is the only thing you have to do to make it all work (your details remain secure, it’s just allowing data connectivity via the API). An essential install. Recommended.
