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    Google is building its own DeX: First look at Android's Desktop Mode

    (www.androidauthority.com)
    442 points logic_node | 16 comments | 13 May 25 14:30 UTC | HN request time: 0.974s | source | bottom
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    enragedcacti ◴[13 May 25 14:58 UTC] No.43973693[source]▶
    Taking better advantage of a display is nice but imo the really exciting part of desktop mode is the planned integration with Google's Linux Terminal app (i.e. 1st party linux VM support). I have a Samsung DeX device and while you can get a basic dev environment working easily it can be really cumbersome to make it comfortable to use and integrate with your normal tablet workflow. Being able to install full-fat linux apps and run them in a window would be a complete game changer.

    source for planned integration: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/392521081?utm_source=...

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    1. chneu ◴[13 May 25 17:45 UTC] No.43975631[source]▶
    Dex is annoyingly close to being really useful.

    I think Samsung recently added a "desktop Dex" mode that's supposed to be less mobile-ui. I haven't tried it tho.

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    2. asabla ◴[13 May 25 18:20 UTC] No.43976010[source]▶
    I remember when they presented the S10, with the initial implementation of Dex.

    It felt so close already back then, sluggish, but still usable. But that initial implementation was running some in-house version of Ubuntu with a custom kernel (if I remembered it correctly).

    I just wish this becomes a reality much sooner then later. Especially if I can have my dev environment on some remote VPS with either tunneling, github code spaces or Azure DevBox

    replies(2): >>43976225 #>>43978843 #
    3. ◴[13 May 25 18:38 UTC] No.43976177[source]▶
    4. fenced_load ◴[13 May 25 18:43 UTC] No.43976225[source]▶
    Just FYI, Dex is really fluid on flagship devices.
    replies(1): >>43979391 #
    5. vizzier ◴[13 May 25 21:04 UTC] No.43977714[source]▶
    > Dex is annoyingly close to being really useful.

    I feel this a lot. I use it daily, mostly as a thin client for remote desktop use but there are little niggles that would make it better. Examples:

    - Let me control how the top bar and taskbar are viewed

    - Let games capture the mouse in remote desktop (for fps type games)

    - Fix the small issues that cause the mouse capture to fail on steam link occasionally

    - Fix rendering issues with firefox while in desktop mode

    - Let the youtube UI work in a more "desktop" way while in dex mode

    These might be mostly app responsibilities, but if they could fix some of this stuff dex would be a dream instead of just being mostly useful.

    replies(1): >>43982187 #
    6. gothroach ◴[13 May 25 23:09 UTC] No.43978843[source]▶
    I think it was introduced with at least the S9+, mine has had DeX since I got it originally.
    replies(1): >>43979234 #
    7. lmpdev ◴[13 May 25 23:57 UTC] No.43979234{3}[source]▶
    I have it on my old S8
    replies(1): >>43983150 #
    8. causality0 ◴[14 May 25 00:22 UTC] No.43979391{3}[source]▶
    Reasonably fluid, but not when it comes to heavy web pages with a lot of 3D. I have an S24U I use in DeX for most of my day but when I do have to switch to my ten inch 6800u laptop it absolutely demolishes the DeX experience. There's still a fractional second of lag that Samsung hasn't done away with yet.
    9. LeonM ◴[14 May 25 08:20 UTC] No.43982187[source]▶
    I just wish it would do 4K resolution out of the box.

    The hardware can do it, it's just that the system settings won't show you the 4K resolution option for some reason. But you can do some hacks to make it appear and then it works just fine.

    You need to install a nondescript app called 'Samsung Good Lock' from the Samsung store (not available in Play store), and use that to side-load an app called 'Multistar', which is an app to tweak display settings. From that side-loaded app you need to tap the 'I Samsung DeX' which does various setting changes to "Make Dex even more friendly", it doesn't specify what it does exactly, but it'll make the 4K resolution option appear in the system settings.

    This all feels real sketchy and I don't understand why Samsung doesn't just enable 4K resolution officially, because the hardware is clearly capable of it.

    With every OneUI update there are rumors that it'll natively support 4K, but so far that hasn't happened AFAIK. Admittedly I haven't used Dex in a while for myself, but judging from recent Reddit posts this hack is still needed.

    replies(2): >>43984306 #>>43987096 #
    10. wkat4242 ◴[14 May 25 11:20 UTC] No.43983150{4}[source]▶
    This is the right answer. DeX itself was introduced with the S8 series.

    With the S9 they introduced the developer test version of Linux on DeX but it never came to the S8 or S10 and it was already discontinued with the Android 10 update :(

    11. RajT88 ◴[14 May 25 11:58 UTC] No.43983440[source]▶
    Last I used it, I still wouldn't want to write code on Dex. But it was great for everything else. I could definitely complete just about any other tasks I needed with it. It was a little clunky, but doable; teams calls, getting into internal tools for triaging systems issues, the company CRM, all that stuff.
    12. apitman ◴[14 May 25 13:29 UTC] No.43984306{3}[source]▶
    These instructions sound like a parody sketch about bad UX.
    replies(1): >>43986781 #
    13. AdmiralAsshat ◴[14 May 25 13:57 UTC] No.43984617[source]▶
    It's not a full laptop replacement, but at least for me it's good enough at what it does that I can just take my phone or tablet with me on short vacations and not be paranoid that I'm gonna have to do something complicated like log into my bank or write some verbose emails that I'm normally afraid to do from my phone. In those instances, plugging one of them into a KVM and Dex mode is sufficient to get over the hump.
    14. vizzier ◴[14 May 25 17:00 UTC] No.43986781{4}[source]▶
    Aye, to some degree they are, but I'm also glad that android is open/hackable enough that goodlock lets you add these additional preferences. (I also use it, for me it was for ultrawide resolutions)
    15. chneu ◴[14 May 25 17:26 UTC] No.43987096{3}[source]▶
    Samsung's Good Lock is kind of their testing ground for new features.

    It lets people who want to tinker do it, while keeping people who probably shouldn't tinker from doing it.

    It's not available in the Google Play store because the play store rules are really stupid. A lot of apps aren't available there.

    replies(1): >>43987981 #
    16. LeonM ◴[14 May 25 18:51 UTC] No.43987981{4}[source]▶
    According to the Samsung Store it is developed by developer 'Good Lock Labs'. According to this Wikipedia source [0] they developed this app 'in cooperation with Samsung'. Browsing through the sources I did find a 2016 article from Samsung themselves [1] about Good Lock, indeed confirming it is theirs.

    Also, it looks like Good Lock is now also available on the Google Play Store, and there it lists Samsung Electronics as the developer [2].

    I guess this does make it less sketchy of an app to use, but it still feel wrong to have to do so many weird steps to get a menu option working.

    [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Lock [1] https://news.samsung.com/global/make-your-galaxy-smartphone-... [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samsung.an...