Developer: ZZHC Studio
App Name: WebProjector
Category: Productivity
iTunes Preview
Version Reviewed: 1.2
App Price: $2.99
Date Reviewed: 8/9/2010
I find myself from time to time, in need of pulling up a website on your iPad and wish you could show it to others in the room, either via a projector or external monitor. Sometimes it’s just a website. Other times it may be a MLS listing or an online map. If you have found yourself in this type of predicament, now there’s an app for that.
The app being reviewed for this task is ZZHC’s WebProjector App. At a cost of $2.99 the price is fair for the feature set:
- Minimal interface, full-screen browsing experience
- Auto-hiding toolbar, one-touch on screen to bring it back
- Bookmarks
- Textured background and mobile device border on external screen
- Auto-rotate device appearance with animation
- Plays videos on the website
The WebProjector App requires the use of the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter. Click here to find out more about the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter. At first glance a “minimal interface” sounds ideal. The same goes for an auto-hiding toolbar, bookmarks, auto-rotation, and playing of videos. However, I thought the “textured background” border on external screen sounded a bit odd. With the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter hooked up and the WebProjector App launched, the external monitor immediately popped up a grey, textured background. A few seconds later the monitor displayed the webpage displayed on the iPad.
The default view is to show the grey textured background bordering the webpage. However, the textured background can be hidden by using the website zoom to full screen feature. On various tests with several monitors and projectors running on a “standard” resolution of 1024×768 or 1280×1024 the zoom feature filled the website to the screen perfectly. However, on a higher resolution monitor running 1600×1200 the zoom was not quite as precise and the slightly cut off the left and right hand edges of the websites.
One of the only downsides that I feel is that there is a noticeable delay with pulling up websites using WebProjector versus using the native Safari App. The delay is not terribly long but it is enough that it should be noted. At first I thought maybe my Wi-Fi connection was suffering but after closing WebProjector and opening Safari, it was evident the performance issue was isolated to the WebProjector App.
Overall WebProjector App a nice app to have to demonstrate a website on a projector or an external monitor, especially given its reasonable price of $2.99.
