A smart wand device for unlocking and controlling a remote computing device (e.g., mobile device, phone, tablet, etc.) includes an elongated barrel housing, a position sensor, an activation button, a transceiver, and a processor. The activation button is positioned midway along the elongate barrel housing such that, while the user is holding the elongate barrel housing in a writing position, the user's fingerprint features are detected and used to unlock the remote computing device. The smart wand device also collects sensor data corresponding to a gesture made by the user, uses a forty-five degree angle between the horizontally extending longitudinal axis and the vertically extending longitudinal axis to determine the sensor data not to be used for a two-dimensional rendering, and transmits the sensor data to the remote computing device for conversion into a two-dimensional rendering corresponding to a gesture made by the user.