Your Galaxy S8+ can Double as a Desktop Computer
Samsung is one of those companies that do the best to actually listen to customer feedback. Do you remember Microsoft’s Lumia 950 and Motorola’s Atrix? What about Microsoft’s Continuum feature for Windows 10 that lets phone and tablet users convert their mobile OSes to fuller-featured PC-like setups? I know that many of these are a failure, yet this isn’t stopping Samsung from giving it a go with a new dock for the Galaxy S8+ called Dex. Yes, your Galaxy S8+ can double as a Desktop Computer, therefore let me tell you more:
To sum up what’s happening, you will place your Galaxy S8+ into DeX, which is then connected to a desktop monitor, wireless keyboard, and wireless mouse. The DeX that I am telling you about has two USB ports, an HDMI slot, an Ethernet jack and a USB-C socket for power. With these connectors, you can hook your phone up to a display, wired keyboard and mouse for a complete desktop setup, not to mention that you can even link accessories over Bluetooth.
Samsung’s Injong Rhee, CTO of the Mobile Communications Business admits the fact that “Our collaboration with key partners such as Adobe and Microsoft was essential in the development of Samsung DeX, as they share our vision for building excellence in mobile productivity. (…) Samsung DeX redefines what a smartphone can do to keep mobile professionals productive.”
Therefore, don’t be so surprised to see that the whole interface looks a little like Chrome OS, having an app drawer on the side, and supports Android apps with full access to notifications and resizeable windows.
However, there’s no full desktop browser here. That means you’re limited to how well Android apps are supported on bigger screens, and the truth is that most apps in the Google Play Store simply aren’t optimized for this type of usage. Samsung’s own browser, Microsoft’s Office apps, and Adobe’s mobile creative suite are actually the only ones who work with no issues at this point, but I hope that this is just the beginning.
And S8+ is equipped with a Snapdragon 835 chip that was designed with VR in mind, therefore it should double as a desktop machine with no problem, not to mention that Samsung did a great job into customizing Android for bigger screens, so I feel positive about the future.
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