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Samsung DeX

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Re: Samsung DeX

#121

Post by guhcampos »

FreakyT wrote: post #13

It'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 suspici…

I had an Atrix and it was awesome. I could fire it from the dock and get a full featured Linux desktop right from my phone! And keep clicking through until I got bored and turned on my laptop.

Same thing with the built-in Linux desktop on a Asus motherboard I had, I don't even remember the name of the thing.

I believe the concept is here to stay, but like tablet PCs back in 2003 it did not find its niche yet. There aren't just too many occasions you'd have a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, but not some kind of x86_64 computer near.

Still, it's likely the breeding ground for a number of innovations and it may finally catch up...it just does not make so much sense to me to include only on the flagship products: why would you cut so much people on the mid range out of a feature you don't even know if and where will catch up?

Re: Samsung DeX

#122

Post by petecox »

ianburrell wrote: post #75
cbhl wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 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 Quickboo…

The competition for phone dock is from cheap laptop or desktop. Also, phone dock requires monitor and keyboard which is extra expense. Most people would choose laptop before full desk setup. There are also all-in-one computers and compute sticks that provide cheap alternatives for someone who wants simple or portable.

I already have dual monitors, keyboard, usb audio and mouse. Via a KVM switch, they drive a Windows 10 laptop and a Linux box.

So I don't need additional computers in my life but if my phone had docking support I'd seamlessly just plug it into my existing setup.

As the laptop and pc depreciate over time and phone hardware improves with every generation, a DeX platform becomes more attractive as a node on my KVM setup.

Re: Samsung DeX

#123

Post by vfXander »

cbhl wrote: post #22
FreakyT wrote: post #13

It'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 suspici…

I 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 Quickboo…

It's $60 on eBay (new), how's that a problem?

Re: Samsung DeX

#124

Post by ocdtrekkie »

AgentIcarus wrote: post #82
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #23

So 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…

Out of interest, why is being on Verizon a selling point?

I 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.

Re: Samsung DeX

#125

Post by petecox »

synicalx wrote: post #92
joenathanone wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Samsung Dex, I only use it now to charge my phone. It's useful but not useful enough. It's the sort of experience that works in a pinch but a laptop or desktop delivers a much better desktop experience, and there is no proper RDP app. The MS RDP app doesn't go full screen. For this to catch on, in my mind, it needs to provided an experience that can replace a desktop, otherwise having to have a dock, monitor…

I'm curious, how are finding performance for basic stuff like web browsing? Real bummer to hear about the RDP app, that was a big incentive for me, but it's no use if it won't go full screen

Why would web browsing be any different to performance on a phone or iPad; it's just connecting an external display over USB-to-HDMI? As long as the phone's GPU supports that...

Re: Samsung DeX

#126

Post by StephenMelon »

danudey wrote: post #94
harryf wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. I'd love to have just one computing device that covers everything for the sake of simplicity. At times I've found myself carrying a smartphone, laptop, tablet and a smart watch, plus ton of cables and adapters... almost 10 pounds or 5kg of electronics just to cover all my use case…

The iPhone in my pocket is as powerful as basically any iPad, and more powerful than many laptops. An iPad is powerful enough for most typical workloads. Therefore, my iPhone is powerful enough for most workloads. If I could dock my phone into something that gave me a monitor, keyboard, and (so I don't have to lift my arm up over and over) a trackpad, that would solve my home computing needs 85% of the time.

Well the phone is already a trackpad, you can mirror the screen wireless via an Apple TV, and you can use a Bluetooth keyboard. In fact, I’m doing all 3 to write this (The user-experience is more than acceptable, but I’m not going to try to use the setup for coding any time soon).

Apple could pull the trigger on running full OSX on a phone or iPad if they thought there was a market for it but it would be a backwards-looking step.

It’s not exactly an innovation leap to think “hey, phones will match desktop PC performance, we could plug one into peripherals and make a device that can become a desktop”, everyone has had that idea. It just seems a bit backwards looking? In 10 years time the power of a current Mac Pro will probably be available in a watch with 5G+ bandwidth. If necessary, a desktop OS experience could be an app or a cloud service on whichever screen (or headset) is available.

Re: Samsung DeX

#127

Post by contingencies »

I'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.

Re: Samsung DeX

#129

Post by TheAceOfHearts »

This 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.

Re: Samsung DeX

#130

Post by hajile »

danudey wrote: post #94
harryf wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. I'd love to have just one computing device that covers everything for the sake of simplicity. At times I've found myself carrying a smartphone, laptop, tablet and a smart watch, plus ton of cables and adapters... almost 10 pounds or 5kg of electronics just to cover all my use case…

The iPhone in my pocket is as powerful as basically any iPad, and more powerful than many laptops. An iPad is powerful enough for most typical workloads. Therefore, my iPhone is powerful enough for most workloads. If I could dock my phone into something that gave me a monitor, keyboard, and (so I don't have to lift my arm up over and over) a trackpad, that would solve my home computing needs 85% of the time.

TDP matters for serious work. Over normal work periods, that ipad is going to continue to operate at a fairly high frequency while the iphone will throttle because it can't dissipate as much heat. Dissipation and size affect many other parts of system design too (eg, memory speed, width, and size).
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