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

(www.androidauthority.com)
442 points logic_node | 3 comments | 13 May 25 14:30 UTC | HN request time: 0.68s | source
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carlhjerpe ◴[13 May 25 19:13 UTC] No.43976514[source]▶
This is the only natural path if mobile chips are going to keep getting faster, everyone with a flagship phone is "wasting" so much good compute resources that never gets utilized.

I wonder if we'll see USB-C docks for phones with fans blowing at the device for improved thermals.

If they nail the Linux container UX as well as ChromeOS it would motivate me to buy a top-tier device rather than my sluggish Fairphone 4, right now I don't see the usecase other than good camera.

Imagine thst a large userbase could just skip the laptop and desktop in favor of a USB-C dock and a decent display :)

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MetaWhirledPeas ◴[13 May 25 21:34 UTC] No.43977984[source]▶
> everyone with a flagship phone is "wasting" so much good compute resources

Are they though? Phones already have a broad range of uses. I've seen people try to make laptops out of them and it just doesn't make sense for a number of reasons:

- As screen size goes up so do battery requirements, so you're already paying for a screen, a chassis, and a physical keyboard. Why not go the whole way and pay for the silicon?

- When your phone is being a PC it's no longer being a phone; you can't do phone calls and camera photos (at least not well) while it's a PC.

I have a Samsung and use Dex occasionally, but the uses are limited. In my case it's to check personal emails, which is not allowed on the corporate network. But outside of cases like this I can't imagine ever preferring Dex to a laptop or a dedicated computer. It's much better at being a phone.

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1. anonzzzies ◴[14 May 25 01:04 UTC] No.43979624[source]▶
At least here, everyone I know and see does 'phone calls' with whatsapp and ear buds; I never see anyone holding a phone to their ears or using the GSM network to call actual numbers and I see a lot of people. Also, most prefer text chat anyway. This includes my 80+ parents. I wouldn't need a calling sim if not for sms from some vital services for quite a few years now. It being docked or not makes no difference for that; I wouldn't notice if my phone didn't have built in speakers: for calls we use bluetooth headphones, for music a Bluetooth speaker.

I travel a lot and do not like carrying things, so xreal and phone are more than enough for coding while going day long, easily augmented with a small power bank (unlike a laptop), with all of that fitting in my pockets after I drop my luggage at the hotel. Most my colleagues have macbooks and while they have good battery life, it is no comparison: the search for places with power outlets starts when I am not even at 50%. It is not an apples to apples as I do a lot of compute in the cloud, but even with that on the laptops, they still last a lot shorter and you cannot plug in normal power banks.

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2. wkat4242 ◴[14 May 25 12:54 UTC] No.43983957[source]▶
Do you actually work on the xreal like this, in DeX? I really wonder what it's like. They're so expensive it's hard to invest in one (I don't have America-level purchasing power)
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3. anonzzzies ◴[17 May 25 07:12 UTC] No.44012586[source]▶
Yes, it works very well. The new ones are better, but I have the Air 2 and they work very well for this, no need for taking my laptop anywhere anymore.