Using Android tablet/phone as a bluetooth or USB touchscreen monitor

Question

I have an LG G Pad F 7.0 and a LG G4, and I'm wanting to know if I have any options that will allow me to make my tablet preferably into a second monitor with the touch screen controls?

I'm planning on using my device as a drawing tablet when I'm out all next week. I have a special fine-pointed stylus that allows me to use the android device like a wacom tablet instead of a device designed for fingers. My major limitation is that I will be in a no service zone for my data carrier when I'm out, also there is no wifi connections available, so therefor I will not have any sort of network to connect to. I will need to be able to use my USB(preferred) or bluetooth(I'm a heavy bluetooth user). My laptop is running Windows mostly, although, I do have Linux I use semi-often, and I have a live Mac OS X bootable if needed. Solutions I have seen so far are geared to using a wifi network, which I can not use.

Answer 1

You CAN use WiFi! Get an old WiFi router from a thrift store, or an inexpensive new one. Take it with you, and you'll have a WiFi LAN (local area network) that you can use to facilitate communication between all your devices. You don't need Internet service to create your own WiFi LAN! (Depending on your router, you'll also have some Ethernet ports for wired connections, too.)

Some Android devices support WiFi Direct, which allows a connection between two devices via WiFi.

There are a few good Android tethering apps that can create a WiFi hotspot, running on one of your devices. Your other devices connect to it just like they would to a hardware WiFi router. Look for apps that don't require a rooted device (unless you have one,) and look for apps that don't allow carriers (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc.) to limit their functionality. One of the biggest/oldest tethering packages (PdaNet / FoxFi) has been forced to restrict their software so that the mobile phone companies can sell tethering as an add-on service.

Most recently I tried out Tether It, and and found it to work great, but there are several good, simple tethering apps that provide essentially the same features.

My choice would be my first suggestion: pick up a cheap wifi router for $20-25; the D-Link DIR-605L and TP-Link TL-WR841N are two. That way your LAN isn't dependent on a tablet or laptop you use for other things. Hardware routers tend to make better routers than software solutions, and will generally be more configurable and more solid.