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Samsung DeX
- artursapek 9y agoHow long until I'm able to have my Ubuntu environment on a phone and plug it directly into my monitor, keyboard, and mouse? We already have the OS and peripherals, what's missing? It's not storage on the phone; Apple is selling 256GB iPhones. Is it the processing power?
- Operyl 9y agoJust somebody to do it, and convince the hardware manufacturers it's a good idea. See the now defunct Ubuntu Phone project: https://docs.ubuntu.com/phone/en/devices/ https://docs.ubuntu.com/phone/en/devices/
- dbmikus 9y agoDidn't Ubuntu give up on making their OS support mobile? What's missing is the demand for a desktop OS on a phone.
- validationerror 9y agoNo. It's the willingness of manufacturers to make it possible. We could have had this many years ago already. The technology was there, the performance was there, it's just that the willingness of phone manufacturers to enable users to do it was lacking and still is for the most part. Probably because there's not that much demand for it either, outside of techie circles.
- olegkikin 9y agoIt's definitely not the processing power, modern phones are beasts, they can compete with 10-year old PCs.
- mcrae 9y agoIt's being worked on: https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/19/samsung-introduces-linux-on-galaxy/ https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/19/samsung-introduces-linux... You can sign up for updates here: https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy
- Skunkleton 9y agoSamsung is currently working on Linux for Galaxy which is exactly this. Also, the processors in your phone are closer to desktop performance that you might think. If you put any weight in GeekBench scores, single core scores for the new A11 are about the same as the single core scores for the Ryzen 1800x.
- revelation 9y agoFor all of 5 minutes until it's thermally throttled. They never tell you that on the "GeekBench". But yes, for those 5 minutes, it has somewhat the same performance as one of the eight processors on the 1800x. Frankly, 1/8th 1800x and a whole A11 is about the same power budget, so that's not entirely surprising.
- ksk 9y agoYeah, also even if you could get rid of the thermal throttling, you're still dumping all that heat into the phone's body which could overheat/damage other components.
- revelation 9y agoMost notably you're dumping it into the battery, which is already heating up itself just fine having to supply the extra current for your full CPU power burst. And sustained high temperatures are a surefire way to rapidly diminish the capacity of LiIon batteries. So I guess it's a good thing they have external power and a fan, even though it's dubious how much that does given the battery isn't seeing any of that airflow and is in the usual protective sleeve that doesn't exactly help thermal conductivity. There is a reason Tesla watercool every individual metal 18650 cell.
- petecox 9y agoThe DeX product page explicitly says Built-in cooling fan, so they're definitely aware of overheating.
- Skunkleton 9y ago
- schappim 9y agoYou can already do this today. I was doing it on my Samsung Galaxy S3 back in the day. Essentially you install Ubuntu on top of Android. You then VNC to the Ubuntu Desktop from Android. Android (using USB on the go) out of the box supports keyboard and mouse. Not all devices support MicroHDMI, but the S3 did.
- DennisAleynikov 9y agoYeah, suprisingly samsung has been sleeper developing something like DeX since the s3, and MHL was pretty dope for the time. Excited that samsung believes in the vision of the one device life.
- nambit 9y agoIt's the processor which isn't x86 because of power consumption, etc. This means that even if you get a full blown linux distro, you'll need to compile a lot of shit for it before you can have a full cross platform dev experience. Ubuntu phone was a step in the right direction. But the phone experience wasn't great so they gave up.
- fsiefken 9y agoYou can already do this (for at least two years) with Linux Deploy on Android and VNC to localhost. You start an Ubuntu image within Android and connect to it through an Android VNC client. Keyboard, monitor and mouse can be done through cabling or wireless. I use VR in Samsung GearVR. https://www.androidauthority.com/install-ubuntu-on-your-android-smartphone-765408/ https://www.androidauthority.com/install-ubuntu-on-your-andr...
- asciimo 9y agoBy "use VR..." do you mean that use a VNC client in VR mode? How is the resolution?
- fsiefken 9y agoIt's good enough for basic use of apps. I can read my e-books fine, browsing works as well. Yes, the letters are a bit dotty, but that's not an impediment. It's less comfortable as using a high res physical screen in front of you, but for terminal work it doesn't matter that much. I'm not sure about the resolution 1024x768 or higher depending on how close you are to the virtual screen. Do you remember working with 1024x768 screens? It's like that
- DennisAleynikov 9y agoif only phonecast would support running the dex environment. I would literally not leave gear vr ever again.
- dekobon 9y agoSamsung is trying to figure out the market interest on running Ubuntu directly on the phone. I saw it working at a convention and they directed me to sign up here to beta: https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy https://seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy
- koverda 9y agoI've already replaced my desktop with a laptop, looking forward to the day I can consolidate everything onto one device. This looks like a step in the right direction.
- criddell 9y agoI was using a laptop for most stuff a few years ago and now I've been unconsolidating (what's the right word?). I now have an e-reader, a laptop that docks, a gaming console, a phone, a fitness tracker, an iPad, an Amazon Echo, a Roku, and a watch. Even though the laptop could do almost all of those things, I'm happier with a few excellent discrete devices. I'm actually very happy with my tech life these days and don't feel many pain points anymore. If I had one wish, it would probably be for Amazon to drop DRM on Kindle titles.
- mcshicks 9y agoIt would be more compelling to me if they could also dock it into a laptop shell with USB and Ethernet ports. If I'm going someplace for more than a day I'm going to bring my laptop, I don't want to lug around a monitor. It doesn't really replace my laptop, it only replaces my docking station.
- Kipters 9y agoLike the Lapdock for the HP Elite x3?
- hdhzy 9y agoDeX is quite good but unfortunately only available on the top Samsung phones. I think the target market would be people that don't necessarily need a PC for most of the time. Someone that needs a bigger screen to easily do banking or word processing. DeX has one HDMI port (1080p), two USB 2.0 and one Ethernet. I can't wait for the Linux on Galaxy project to see how working with Ubuntu through DeX would feel like.
- vthallam 9y agoPretty impressive. Considering that it also allows you to login to a remote windows machine. Lots of enterprise companies use Windows and citrix receiver as a way to login remotely, this makes very useful when you are travelling just with your phone.
- Koshkin 9y ago> just with your phone ... and a DeX station.
- DennisAleynikov 9y agoYou could get a much cheaper (mine was $20) slimport/displayport usb-c to hdmi converter. That's all the phone is looking for to launch the DeX environment. The dongle version of the station works even better cuz it can lay flat on my desk and the finger print scanner is easy to reach.
- duiker101 9y agoIs this new? I am pretty sure I was in a MediaMrkt in Rotterdam a couple weeks ago and I saw this, I didn't even realize it was a big thing.
- FreakyT 9y agoIt's definitely neat, but I feel like this has been done before without success -- examples like the Motorola Atrix, Windows Continuum, and even the cancelled Ubuntu Phone come to mind. (And, going further back in time, let's not forget the Palm Foleo!) It seems like a neat idea on the surface though, so I wonder why as a concept the phone-connected-to-desktop-peripherals thing hasn't gained more traction. My suspicion is that there isn't really a target user that this makes more sense for. Who happens to keep desktop peripherals on their desk but only does lightweight productivity tasks? CEOs who only answer email? Certainly not software developers or even accounting people.
- cbhl 9y agoI think the biggest problem is the price point. The person who most wants to use their phone as a PC is the person who can't afford spending $4000 on the entire suite of Apple devices. That person probably also can't afford a $100 dock (let alone a $300 one) for their phone. When someone makes a USB-C/Thunderbolt/Intel/Windows device that is phone sized but runs legacy Windows applications (like MS Paint and Quickbooks and 90s-era video games), and connects with commodity connectors, then the idea stands a chance. (IMHO, Windows Continuum died because of a chicken-and-egg problem -- no iOS devs wanted to pay $1000 for Visual Studio plus a Windows laptop, but no users used the phone because key apps were missing.)
- anilshanbhag 9y agoI don't think the price comparison is fair. If someone spends 700$ on a phone, he would be ok spending 200$ if the system does work smoothly. What I think people are more skeptic about is performance and user experience.
- orbitingpluto 9y agoAre you forgetting that most people get their phones with their plans? People will feel that they can absorb $20 or even $30 extra per month on their plan for a top tier phone. Absorbing any hit over $200 when someone lives hand to mouth makes these a non-starter. The best chance for mass success for this option is for it to be included in the base purchase.
- pjmlp 9y agoCanonical and Microsoft were there first, not sure if I want to see Samsung winning it.
- make3 9y agodidn't canonical give up
- synicalx 9y agoMS also feels like they've given up, seeing as they've ditched their phones.
- amiga-workbench 9y agoThey did, Unity is completely abandoned apart from a fork which isn't going anywhere.
- pjmlp 9y agoBoth gave up, the point was who was there first and me not being too found of Samsung.
- nikhilsimha 9y agoIt's about time! I thought I will never say this. Ever. But. Go Samsung!
- dexterdog 9y agoHasn't this been out since the S8 series was released?
- jzymbaluk 9y agoVery cool. I wonder how much crossover or competition there's going to be between Dex and Chromebooks, considering that lots of Chrome OS laptops are running android apps now. I guess it's a race to see whether Samsung phones can become desktops before Chromebooks can become phones
- dragonwriter 9y agoSamsung's on both sides of that game, so it's win-win for them.
- askafriend 9y agoI don't think this is something that people actually want or have real painful need for today. If you already have a big monitor like that then you probably already have a desktop computer. If you don't, then you probably already have a laptop. If you have neither, then I doubt you're the type of user who's going to get this today and a monitor to go along with it because your needs are probably already filled by an iPad or similar. It's a cool trick though.
- elihu 9y agoCopying files and settings between devices (which might run different OSes) is a nuisance. I could imagine this being useful for some people.
- JeffreyKaine 9y agoI bet this would be great for an operations, sales, support or any pother non technical role. The company would only have to buy docs and monitors and then the workforce can just swap out their mobile devices from meeting room to desk etc... I see a large enterprise or student play here if they have the vision to market it.
- bigiain 9y agoA large enterprise or educational institute workforce of people in non-technical roles who all have Galaxy S8 devices? So that's a market size of one then? You could sell this solution to Samsung, and pretty much nobody else.
- jonlucc 9y agoI work in a large company, and we have a mostly mobile workforce, meaning we already have the majority of the company on docks with monitors and unassigned desk areas (show up and pick one when you need it). I could definitely see lots of our workforce being able to use something like this.
- JeffreyKaine 9y agoThe company would save on buying computers and just get everyone work phones (galaxy devices). Seems like that would be best for a non technical workforce anyway. Support and Sales are always on the phone.
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoSo I just bought an HP Elite x3 this month. (Yes, I did.) And it's by far the best phone I've ever put my hands on. It boggles the mind that someone would buy... anything else, given this now is available on Verizon. ...But Continuum feels pointless to me, I left the dock in the box. I have computers anywhere I am going to use a full computer. Or my Surface Pro. I guess maybe this sort of thing might be appealing to the "mobile only" crowd who never owns a PC again?
- dexterdog 9y agoA Windows mobile device? I think that's why most people would buy anything else.
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoThere really isn't many other viable options if security is important to you. There's iPhone and what's left of Windows Mobile. Even the Pixel won't get the KRACK patch until December, everyone else patched it in October. Windows Mobile gives me the feature set of a Android with the security competency of an iPhone.
- AgentIcarus 9y agoOut of interest, why is being on Verizon a selling point?
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoI have a Verizon cell tower in my parking lot and I share a family plan. Kinda big perks for me. The HP Elite x3 not supporting Verizon for so long was really tragic too. It's an enterprise focused phone... But over half of enterprises use Verizon.
- mproud 9y agoWhich Street and What Street?
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoThat bezel-free desktop display in the first image, is that a real Samsung product?
- lotyrin 9y agoLooks like the LC27F591FDNXZA to me, but that the compositing of the desktop image has cheated a bit to make it seem like there's just a bit less dead space than there truly is.
- alkonaut 9y agoThey do know how to name products!
- humanrebar 9y agoThey missed the chance to name it "Galaxy LC27F591FDNXZA".
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoGot it. Ya, it looks touched up. If someone could build a real bezel free monitor....
- FireBeyond 9y agoDell's U2718Q comes close. http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-27-4k-monitor-u2718q/apd/210-amlm/monitors-monitor-accessories http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-27-4k-monitor... The bezel is < 1/4". I have two side by side and the combined bezels are .45" as near as I can measure.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoEven in their advertising, the bezels are still incredibly obvious. There is something magical about the screen ending where the background begins. Even the iPhone X’s bezel is kind of disappointing (though still pretty cool).
- chejazi 9y ago*not a decentralized exchange
- pdelbarba 9y agoWhat I really want is a macbook air form factor laptop with nothing but a battery, a keyboard and a screen that has a slot where the touchpad would be for a phone. Use the phone for storage, cpu and touchpad with the extra screen area and battery life of a laptop.
- stormbrew 9y agoI've decided that this avenue to integration isn't really what I want. I'm not super interested in a big screen connected to a phone that can barely drive it and a solid game. But I do really really want to simplify my life in terms of identity and storage. I'd like to simply have the same view of data on all my devices, with probably my phone acting as a central source of truth in terms of identity and carrying around a hot cache of important data. But I don't just mean using dropbox everywhere. That's really clunky to me. I want it to be better, but no one's really put it all together right yet. I feel like plan9 was on to a lot of this stuff a long time ago but it fizzled out, an idea ahead of its time, with bits and pieces of its ideas taken out of context and rendered largely useless (please don't tell me linux does filesystem namespaces now, it's really not the same).
- milkytron 9y ago> I'd like to simply have the same view of data on all my devices, with probably my phone acting as a central source of truth in terms of identity and carrying around a hot cache of important data. But I don't just mean using dropbox everywhere. Would a NAS from Synology or QNAP offer what you're looking for?
- 0xCMP 9y agoI have a NAS with 14TB and, while it helps, it's not as easy as what another commenter suggested for iOS/Apple: iCloud subscription.
- pa7ch 9y agoYou might be interested in upspin.io. It's by some of the people involved in plan9 and/or Go. It's an ambitious project because ultimately you need to coerce all the apps with valuable data to export to or be compatible with upspin to realize the dream, so to speak. However right now I've already found it useful for storing my personal files and media and I've enjoyed reading the codebase.
- Risinia 9y agoI see what you mean. For this kind of stuff, I am backering a promising lapdock called the Mirabook (from Miraxess : https://miraxess.com/miraxess-brand/ https://miraxess.com/miraxess-brand/). Exactly what you are defining tho, with your mobile phone as a central source of power.
- mholt 9y agoNeat. Why does have a USB 2 port though? Why not USB 3? (It has a USB-C port, but I don't understand why it has a slow USB 2 port when it could have a backwards-compatible USB 3 port of the same type.)
- mikerathbun 9y agoI really like the idea of only having a phone and being able to have a desktop experience without a separate machine. I am pretty invested product and physiologically wise in the Apple ecosystem and would love to see them go in this direction. They already have development workflows that make it relatively easy to modify the layout and functionality of apps for phones up to large iPad Pros and this could be seen as just another form factor which needs to be accounted for.
- lwhi 9y agoI actually think this is part of a pretty clever / sensible strategy. The GearVR transforms the phone into a pretty decent VR headset. Now this accessory will transform the phone into a workable desktop computer. Maybe it's been done before, and maybe the market for the device is limited; but it does position Samsung as a supplier of versatile and ubiquitous devices.
- partycoder 9y agoI think this is a good idea. The reason being this looks like a "path of least resistance", since people already own phones, and it will get a lot of traction very quickly. So far what I've seen is that when you keep a phone connected to power, the battery eventually degrades faster. I hope they solved that problem for this product.
- rdslw 9y agoI have one on my desk for few months already, but I use it only as a charger :-) If enough people vote here (AMA style?), I'll be motivated to connect kbd and monitor and do some tests :)
- acgh213 9y agoOn the Oreo beta for Samsung s8, dex works with any usb-c to hdmi. Also, Samsung is getting Linux distros to run side by side for development purposes
- danjoc 9y ago>blah blah did it first Tablets had been done before without success, then Apple released the iPad. You don't have to be first to market to win. The failure of others in the same segment is not a predictor of future failure. Execution is everything. I was already doing this in 2013 with a Nexus 5. I had a wireless mouse, wireless keyboard, wireless display connection, wireless charging, and Linux for Android running Ubuntu. It was terrible, because all the wireless things created lag, it was like screen sharing on a bad connection with someone in Asia. I bought a slimport cable and it was still terrible. USB 2.0 simply didn't have the bandwidth to push FHD display resolution without artifacts. I see USB-C in the bottom of that stand. If that's USB-C 3.1 gen2 then it has 10GBps and enough bandwidth to push 4K at a decent refresh rate. I see the potential to have a wired keyboard and mouse using the monitor as a USB hub. This is already a much better solution than has been offered before by other companies.
- metaphor 9y ago> ...enough bandwidth to push 4K at a decent refresh rate. What general productivity task at mobile compute scale would optimally leverage 4K resolution at a decent refresh rate?
- SyneRyder 9y agoPhotoshop, perhaps? The DeX already runs a version of Photoshop, and the Samsung store folks were pushing the DeX as an option for website development, especially as their browser supports both desktop & mobile modes. (If I recall correctly, I think he even said the desktop browser has some developer tools built-in, but I haven't been back to the store to check that.)
- metaphor 9y agoI'm not certain Photoshop can be classified as general productivity, but if we gave it the benefit of the doubt anyways and further assumed end-users would somehow benefit immensely from such a high resolution, then I'm still not seeing were decent refresh rate fits snuggly into the imperative.
- Kipters 9y agoIt feels weird that more than half of the highlighted apps are from Microsoft, which had its own implementation of this
- Risinia 9y agoOkay, I will reformulate my reply here since I read all the answers just now. As I said earlier, I backered a promising lapdock with the Smartphone as the central source of power. It allows you to plug your phone to a laptop device with a 13" screen, trackpad and speakers. I am just dropping you this here if you want more information about the Mirabook from Miraxess : https://miraxess.com/miraxess-products/mirabook/ https://miraxess.com/miraxess-products/mirabook/
- vfXander 9y agoThat's pretty much like Sentio (old Andronium Superbook). I backed one while ago, finally I should receive mine within a month!
- DennisAleynikov 9y agoSame can't wait for the superbooks to ship! It will truly complete my phone as a transforming computer dream. I've already fully switched to only using DeX as a desktop environment, and I'm in the Nov-Dec batch for Sentio :) I've already got a lot done even without the superbook, with all the delays they've had haha. https://www.youtube.com/c/DennisAleynikov https://www.youtube.com/c/DennisAleynikov
- Nani22 9y agoYour samsung will never be able to display dex on the superbook. I've seen that on XDA forums.
- darklajid 9y agoI like that a lot! Unfortunately I don't see a release date and I don't see how I can easily check if my device is compatible (it's USB C - OnePlus 5, but "Smartphone with DisplayPort over USB C technology"? I don't know). If this were available NOW and .. ship/sell to me, then I'd give this a try in a heartbeat.
- Risinia 9y ago
- synicalx 9y agoOdd use case for this, but one that would immediately solve about 8 of my 10 current headaches - put these in meeting rooms. No more WiDi to set up, no more meeting room PC's, no more cable spaghetti. Just drop your phone in, grab the wireless keyboard/mouse and start boring people to death.
- fitzroy 9y ago"Some things are just easier on a desktop, like sending an email, bolding text, or copying and pasting between apps." Are these the best examples they could come up with?
- bobbles 9y agoIf you're trying to get shit done all of these are pretty high on my "number of times per day performed" list
- xster 9y agoI feel like they're solving the right problem. Not sure if it's the right solution though. If 2 years down, Android and ChromeOS merged their foundation components and Pixel 5 switched between Android UI and ChromeOS UI when docked, I think it would totally make sense. Not sure I'm interested in a Samsung Android and a self baked OS from Samsung.
- hocuspocus 9y agoI know that core developers behind EFL have been begging their upper management for this kind of hardware running Tizen, which would make a lot more sense than hacking Android into something it's not really made for. Alas Tizen on mobile has been only used for sub $100 phones targeted at developing markets.
- sebleon 9y agoVery interesting product - my guess is that past attempts failed because of distribution and marketing strategies. (Motorola Atrix, Windows Continuum, etc). Enterprise companies with large workforces seems like an interesting market for this. Employees would only receive a phone (no laptop), doable when work relies on MS Excel + email. For instance, consulting and sales orgs seem especially interesting, given their mobile workforces and lack of fixed office seating.
- icodestuff 9y agoDeX is okay. As an Android developer who's had to support it, I'd say it's similar to Chromebook (as an alternative to Android phone/tablet development), except it's got its own set of undocumented idiosyncrasies. Highly don't recommend using it with Android < 7.1.1 either (it supports back to 7.0).
- jadedfk 9y agoJust really need a phone to run a full OS when plugged in. Why would anybody who is a serious user want to use a mobile OS for anything other than simple tasks.
- nimz 9y agoIn long term, this could change everything. In the short term, the tech is cool but I'm having trouble imagining how I would use this. In the short-term: Would I set this up at home for personal use? Likely not as I would have my laptop already for this purpose. At home, I would want the flexibility to be able to move between my desk and couch, at least. Would I use this at work? I already have a powerful work laptop - this would definitely not substitute. If my employer had many traveling employees, would they setup DeX workstations for those who are visiting for a few hours? Maybe. For work use, it's too limited in power and applications to be a serious competitor. In the long term: If I were a casual user of tech, whose primary needs were email, documents, videos and photos, would this let me not buy a separate laptop altogether? Yes - possibly. This is the killer use case. Eventually, the phone will get more and more powerful and internet speeds will get faster. For the casual tech user of email, documents, media and web browsing, this will more than suffice. Having two machines to buy and maintain, that do the same thing for you, will seem clunky and out-dated.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- contingencies 9y agoI've got an S8+ (great phone!) and haven't tried this. When I can have a fully fledged Linux desktop on my device, parallel to the native phone services and with pocket-portable screen connectivity I will stop carrying a laptop. My 2013 Apple MBP is dying, and the replacement won't be Apple, since 95% of all I use on Apple is open source anyway, and the prices are stupid. Looking at NUC/BRIX devices, phones, etc. Samsung, please make out of the box Linux a priority. The cloud stuff is useless here in China (Google/MS/Samsung) and I just want to use my own device as I see fit.
- StudentStuff 9y agoTake a look at the newer Thinkpad T series, the T440 and newer are much thinner, lighter weight 14 inch laptops that slot in between the MBP 13" and the MBP 15.6" in both size and weight. Screen can be upgraded to 1080p and beyond, parts are very well priced, nearly everything is still user serviceable, and you can pick up a T440 for not much. Debian & Arch both have full support for the hardware too!
- DennisAleynikov 9y agoBro, don't worry too much about the full linuxness of it. The s8+ is a beauty with brains and even without the official dock (mine's $20 from some chinese dropshipper) and it's been incredible with access to the android bash and more with debian being able to run on the device hardware itself. I highly reccomend you try it out, I've been testing out video editing on it and never thought I could give up final cut and a mac but I find it hard to go back. Check out some of the stuff I've made using the s8+ and a dex dongle https://www.youtube.com/c/DennisAleynikov https://www.youtube.com/c/DennisAleynikov
- thecupisblue 9y agoCan you link your dock?
- Ebozz 9y agoThe Huawei mate 10 series has desktop mode that requires only a cable, which is more convenient as a portable solution: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bensin/2017/10/16/huaweis-mate-10-makes-samsung-dex-look-pointless/#495ebdab39ab https://www.forbes.com/sites/bensin/2017/10/16/huaweis-mate-...
- TheAceOfHearts 9y agoThis is nifty, although I wouldn't see myself using it. For starters, it looks like it's closed source, which makes it a non-starter for me. I'm personally trying to move away from locked-down hardware and ecosystems, although admittedly it is surprisingly difficult. Furthermore, I already have a very powerful desktop hooked up to a large screen. I want to be able to leverage its power! So what I'd really like is a way to easily transfer activities or work between devices. The best execution of this I've seen so far is from Apple, with iOS and macOS's continuity features. Unfortunately, I have an Android phone, which means I can't use that functionality. Transferring files between devices is still such a huge pain! Between Apple devices, AirDrop has the best experience I've used. My cross-platform solution is running an HTTP server (`python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080`) and zipping up the files I want to send. Since zeroconf is widely available, it's usually not much hassle to type in the address. If I'm dealing with devices on different networks, I use instant.io. Here's a typical scenario for me: I arrive at home and want to play a game on my desktop while I continue to listen to the audiobook playing on my phone. In that case I'd love to pipe the audio from the game to my phone's headphones. That would let me move around to the bathroom and kitchen without having to pause the audiobook, let me know if the game match is starting so I can rush back, and avoid being a noisy neighbor with obnoxiously loud speakers. There's so much more potential for ease of use improvements! For example, while programming, since my desktop is much more powerful, I'd love to offload builds from my laptop when I'm at home. I know I can setup things manually, but it's a lot of hassle and usually ends up kinda brittle. Then if I take my laptop out to some place without network connectivity, I'll have to stop everything and perform additional setup.
- pdsouza 9y agoIf you think this is cool, check out Maru, an open-source project that turns your phone into a PC: https://maruos.com/#/ https://maruos.com/#/ Maru has stable builds available for the Nexus 5 and 7 right now and we have some early builds for newer devices like the HTC 10 on the way. We are always looking for contributors to improve and help port Maru to the latest devices so please stop by our Github if you're interested! https://github.com/maruos/maruos https://github.com/maruos/maruos
- robotresearcher 9y agoI just want the modern equivalent of a VT100 or X Terminal. No plugging in a phone. Just sit down at a generic terminal, log in - maybe with a hardware ID token like Sun used to offer - and there is my stuff. Local display performance should be snappy, but compute done in the cloud with a resource level I can choose at appropriate expense. Timeshared machines were wonderful for usability. PCs took over due to performance per dollar. 25 years later can I have my cake and eat it too, please? Edit: yes, I know about Chromebooks. I never tried the high-end Pixel, but the cheap ones had underpowered local compute and were disappointing.
- colehasson 9y agoIf I wanted a Windows phone... #teampixel Seriously, Android, OTG cable, chromecast and a powered USB hub. Done.
- cwyers 9y agoIt costs $20 in parts to put a SoC in the docking setup and obviate the need for the phone, and thanks to the Cloud you can seamlessly transition files from device to device. This doesn't seem to solve a problem anyone has.
- hello2 9y agoI've been using a Dex for about 6 months, exclusively, including now. It has some annoying bugs: * you can't select text very well, only in some cases (for example in the browser address bar) * some applications simply can't run (for example firefox mobile), but they are very few * zoom with the scroll doesn't work in most cases (google maps) * can't zoom in with the scroll in the browser , and when it does, the increments are very high, can't be customized and they are forgotten when you close the page. * all pages open in mobile mode and you have to click "desktop mode" for each and every one of them that is not displayed like you want. * reading PDFs is impossible because you can't customize the zoom (may be a deal breaker for students), and with a big monitor you get big text, not possible to read. * most bitcoin wallets don't work with the ledger nano s on android, (I use my work computer for transactions). But despite these, overall it's been a decent experience. I download torrents like I did on my PC, I watch movies. I have all my data with me at all times, which I like very much. I used to have a laptop but it was mostly furniture; with a small kid at home I didn't have time to even open it in most nights. And when I did have time, all I did was watch a movie or download a torrent, which is what I do with the Dex anyway. I wish it would've had a USB 3.0 port.
- DennisAleynikov 9y agoSo glad to hear there are others using this long term as a computing solution. it feels like I'm downgrading when I'm using any other computer now because it doesn't have all my apps & files just a click away and all of my info logged in properly. I was sure I could get away with using something that's essentially a chromebook but I was surprised how well apk files replace any program I would have google "function of program .exe" I can search for the equivalent apk file. Really neat for editing videos as well, since the graphics chip is optimized for video encoding it seems that the programs use that to their advantage when exporting large files. To really put the DeX to the test I'm uploading as many videos as I can edited and shot all on the s8/DeX. http://youtube.com/c/DennisAleynikov http://youtube.com/c/DennisAleynikov
- SparkleBunny 9y agoHello fellow dex user. I had the same experience with firefox and discovered a "solution" - DEX developer mode [1]. Yeah, zooming is a fucking mess. To zoom in firefox, doubleclick the mouse, and while HOLDING ON THE SECOND CLICK you can move the mouse up and down to zoom. Neither control +/- and control + scroll wheel work. Selecting text: click on a word and hold the mouse button down. This works exactly like long-pressing on a touchscreen and getting the text select pop-up. [1] https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/help/firefox-dex-station-mode-t3673189 https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/help/firefox-...
- EddieSpeaks 9y agoIt’s a great achievement, but the Dex dock costs over $200 so it makes more sense to just have an Intel NuC or a Compute stick mounted there instead. If the doc wasn’t needed and you could just plug it in to the USB-C it would make a lot more sense
- chrischen 9y agoI long for the day I can put my phone into a VR headset and get a virtual desktop environment.
- golergka 9y agoMy chrome tab hangs dead from this page. My computer is an Apple's Mac Pro with Intel Xeon @ 3.5 Ghz and 32 Gb or RAM. Is that not enough to browse the internet nowadays?
- mrmondo 9y agoBit of an odd comment but - as an observation around the branding - when Australian's pronounce 'DeX' it sounds like 'Dicks'. I'm not having a go but I did also find it genuinely funny.
- melicerte 9y ago[Totally OT] I swear I first read "SamSex Dung" ... I probably have to consult my therapist right now.
- erikb 9y agoI really was wondering for some time why this is not possible for smartphones if a gameboy can do it.
- ungzd 9y agoHow does it work? What OS is there? Some kind of Windows for ARM? How does it work in parallel with Android? Or is it just Android but with resizable overlapping windows?
- bob_theslob646 9y agoProductive? Where is the innovation in portable screens/keyboards? I will stick to a surface pro.
- dangerboysteve 9y agoI think as a standalone product DeX will fail or have very limited adoption. Now if all the players can get together and make it some sort of industry standard then you have something.
- tomc1985 9y agoMan, lots of disclaimers here :/ * UI of the actual product may be different. * Microsoft Office requires users to purchase licenses. * Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint require a download to use. * DeX Station and HDMI / Charging cable are sold separately. * Screen image simulated. * Certain apps may not run or require license (for purchase) on Samsung DeX. * DeX Station supports Galaxy S8/S8+ and Note8.