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'Samsung Dex' Is a Galaxy S8 Dock That Turns Your Phone Into a Desktop (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the two-in-one dept.

Samsung has officially launched their new Galaxy S8 smartphone today, along with several different accessories. One of the accessories is the Samsung Dex, a dock that aims to replace your desktop computer with your phone. If the idea sounds familiar, it's because Microsoft attempted to do this with its Microsoft Display Dock that requires a Windows 10 Lumia 950 or 950 XL with Continuum and a USB-C connector. Given the abysmal market share of Windows 10 Mobile, it's no wonder the dock didn't take off. Samsung, on the other hand, may have more luck convincing users to get rid of their desktop in favor of the Dex. Andrew Cunningham provides some more details in his report via Ars Technica: Samsung hasn't announced pricing or a release date, and most of what we know comes from Samsung's presentation. The dock is small and circular, includes two USB ports and an HDMI port, and it is powered via USB-C (same as the S8 itself). The Verge reports that there's a small cooling fan inside the dock that presumably keeps the phone from throttling too much, enabling more desktop-y performance. The desktop UI looks mostly straightforward: there's a lock screen, a desktop, and a Windows or Chrome OS-esque taskbar with app icons on it. You can use apps full-screen or keep them in windows -- we're still talking about Android apps, and not all of them are well-suited to running on anything other than a phone or a small, narrow window.

9 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Performance by thegreatbob · · Score: 2

    I was going to make a snarky comment about the relatively low performance of phones vs more general purpose machines, but I am generally impressed with the performance of modern mid to high-end phones. If you can obtain performance similar to what was available on an average desktop in ~2005, but at a small fraction of the power consumption, that seems like a win to me.

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    1. Re:Performance by danlor · · Score: 4, Informative

      The nexus 6 is a total slouch. Modern phones such as the iphone 7 and the S8 are completely on par with midrange desktop systems. https://browser.primatelabs.co...
      The A10 fusion is only slightly slower than an i7 6600U. This a completely reasonable solution. The S8 is even faster. It's a crazy new world we are in. At this rate... In the near future our phones will faster than our desktops lol

    2. Re: Performance by subk · · Score: 2

      This is Slashdot. Get off my lawn.

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    3. Re:Performance by speedplane · · Score: 2

      It's a crazy new world we are in. At this rate... In the near future our phones will faster than our desktops lol

      It's not crazy, it's tragic. The death of Moore's law is what's causing this. Desktop processors are not advancing anywhere near the speed that they were, and mobile processors are closing the gap. I'm afraid our tech is plateauing, or at least, approaching a more linear rate of improvement.

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  2. Not really new by markdavis · · Score: 5, Informative

    >"If the idea sounds familiar, it's because Microsoft attempted to do this with its Microsoft Display Dock that requires a Windows 10 Lumia 950 or 950 XL with Continuum and a USB-C connector"

    Nice try giving MS "innovation", but that is not the only example. This has been tried before in many various ways over the years. Here are just a few:

    https://www.technobuffalo.com/...

    http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/d...

    http://maruos.com/

    http://www.ubergizmo.com/2014/...

    1. Re:Not really new by markdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >"This new dock looks nice but really what work are you going to get done with a quirky android-desktop-ish userland and a webrowser? Yeah. Not much. You're gonna go use a cheap netbook or chromebook - And you get to use your phone as a phone at the same time!"

      I can't say without actually using it. But a Galaxy S8 is far more powerful than any "desktop from phone" attempt before. For some people, it might work just dandy and be as fast as a current lower-end laptop from a few years ago. If the desktop "work" they need to do is mostly browser based (and that isn't unusual nowadays) it might be no less feasible than a Chromebook currently is...

      As for using the phone at the same time, we don't know quite yet how that is addressed. But I don't see why one couldn't text from the big screen, make calls using bluetooth and speakerphone, etc, while it is in the dock. The technology is all there, it really just comes down to how well they implemented it all. I am somewhat curious, although not a target customer.

  3. Brilliant by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 2

    Do that, launch some big integer factorization, and watch your phone burst into flames. Most fitting for Samsung.

  4. Re: It's not time yet... by mspohr · · Score: 2

    Face it. There are very few people who need desktop power. Email, web browser, word processing doesn't need much CPU. That's why Chromebooks are just fine for most people.

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  5. Re:Also, screw the Dex - Dual BT Audio? by swb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    See, and I think the inability to multiplex bluetooth is a big limitation. Why shouldn't I be able to "broadcast" BT audio to multiple paired devices or "receive" BT audio on one device from multiple transmitters?

    The obvious example is switching headphones between a phone and PC -- why do you have to do it it all? Why couldn't you get audio from both PC and phone to a single headphone without some switchover dance?