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Samsung DeX

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Re: Samsung DeX

#141

Post by StudentStuff »

spike021 wrote: post #78
numbsafari wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love this. I’m sick of lugging a heavy aluminum notebook around. I want to drop my phone into a cradle or have it wirelessly connect to a KVM setup so I can launch into a desktop session for running tmux and a browser. Wish this worked with iOS.

Many of the newer laptops aren't very heavy at all. My Macbook Air is aluminum and can fit in a small backpack/messenger bag. Unless you just want to not be carrying anything.

Thinkpads have gotten shockingly thin and light, all while improving spilled liquid resistance and enhancing the cooling. The T440 and newer seems to have been a complete redesign, a 14 inch laptop that weighs 1.8kg and is neither too big or too small.

Slap a 1080p or 2560p panel in it, and the laptop is a monster!

Re: Samsung DeX

#142

Post by neotek »

oblio wrote: post #102
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 it's still too early from a hardware performance/connectivity point of view. Once your average $200 smartphone is powerful enough to power a normal desktop when plugged into a trivial, cheap and ubiquitos connector (USB C?), this kind of thing will take off. I have no idea how the software will look though. Maybe it will be just a fancy and reall easy to use remote connection, in the end?

Smartphones are already more powerful than the desktop computers of, say, a few years ago and are already capable of comfortably running a browser and an office suite without any performance problems.

So it isn't a question of computing power, it's a question of utility: who actually needs this? What benefit does it provide over and above just having a cheap PC to do PC things and a smartphone to do smartphone things and syncing documents between the two? It's not cheaper, it's not more convenient, it's not more productive, it's not more powerful, so what's the point?

Re: Samsung DeX

#143

Post by petecox »

guhcampos wrote: post #121
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 a…

The obvious use is laptop bans on flights and docking your phone to your hotel room's TV.

Why so hung up about a keyboard and mouse? Even the local supermarkets here sell them dirt cheap these days.

Re: Samsung DeX

#144

Post by StudentStuff »

contingencies wrote: post #127

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. Sam…

Take 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!

Re: Samsung DeX

#145

Post by bhntr3 »

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…

Yeah, what's the problem this solves?

Here's one it could (but doesn't quite) solve.

At my office everyone carries around their laptop and is constantly trying to get it to work with the telecomm and video software. Some people have a work phone, a work laptop and a personal phone too. I even know some people who add a tablet to that mix. Sometimes I see them bouncing around between all those devices.

For most employees (not necessarily coders) it probably makes sense to just have one device: a phone that you can edit excel and powerpoint on. A universal dock should exist in every meeting room and on every desk.

The major impediments to this are currently the power of the device, the ability to use the os for actually making things, and the existence of a decent dock.

With this dock and the power of the latest generation of phones, we're just stuck on the fact that no one has been able to make an os that actually works well on both mobile devices and as a keyboard/mouse driven system for creating things.

Yeah, I'm looking straight at you, Windows 8.

Re: Samsung DeX

#146

Post by robotresearcher »

I 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.

Re: Samsung DeX

#147

Post by FireBeyond »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #119
lotyrin wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks 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.

Got it. Ya, it looks touched up. If someone could build a real bezel free monitor....

Dell's U2718Q comes close. 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.

Re: Samsung DeX

#148

Post by metaphor »

danjoc wrote: post #73

>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…

> ...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?

Re: Samsung DeX

#149

Post by akgerber »

StudentStuff wrote: post #137
bigiain wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except most people don't think of themselves as "someone who spends $700 on a phone", they pay $x9.95/month for $y00 minutes talktime plus $zGB of data and they get a "free" phone every two years... I doubt any of those people would think it's a good idea to spend an extra ~$15/month for a thing that lets them plug a screen/keyboard/mouse into their "free" phone.

No this model is dead. They pay $x0/month for unlimited everything (with X gigs of high speed data) and then another $20 or $30 a month for the equipment lease or installment plan. The 2 year contract is dead, and we got something worse to replace it.

A lot more good phones are available off-contract than in 2012 or so, and plenty come at reasonable prices.

(I've always had a prepaid smartphone, and the options were atrocious in 2010 and barely existed beyond the Nexus in 2012)

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