Samsung Dex desktop

A theme I occasionally return to: what's a nice light-weight solution for a computer desktop or writing environment?

The obvious answer is "use a small laptop, dummy", but apparently I have been looking for something else.

My last Samsung phone could already provide a Google Docs environment for emergency note-taking, and now that I got an excuse to buy a newer phone, there's an added dimension.

Samsung S23FE has the Dex ("DeX") function which does not only mirror the screen to a larger display, but provides a desktop-like environment with all the support for a mouse and keyboard you'd expect.

For me the most basic way to do this is to use an USB-C to HDMI cable. A hub would work, but at least for now I think carrying a larger block around might work against the concept. I'll get yet another Bluetooth keyboard and a mouse and suffer the recharging carousel.

Fujitsu, Exibel, Belkin

After I bought one adapter, I found I already own two previously, and I don't quite get why as I believe my previous phone did not do any display mirroring. So I have a Belkin, Exibel and a Fujitsu adapters. Exibel and Fujitsu are on a short cable whereas the Belkin has an integrated 2m cable.

At least I could discover these are not all equal, as the Belkin one did not work with my HP Elite display at home. The Fujitsu and Exibel worked just fine.

The HP Elite display was a little disappointing, only offering one possible resolution which scaled poorly with the native resolution. Swapping the overscan options in the display itself, did not help.

At the office, the Fujitsu B27-9-TS-QHD display fared better, enabling a "Full HD" of 1920 x 1080. This display also accepted all the three adapters. The way the display is set up as a USB hub requires a weird cable, so I couldn't check if it would have acted as a hub for the phone.

The display and the phone react quite fast to the connection, the slightly older HP took a few more seconds to align itself.

Multiple windows open on desk

The phone touch screen can act as a trackpad, but sadly when the saver turns the screen off, it has to be turned on again to function. It may also deplete the battery quicker, despite being very low-key.

Basic pointer navigation and panning content worked rather well with the screenpad, pinching and selecting text less so.

Moving and resizing windows I felt was unresponsive, more due to design than the touch screen.

A couple of times I felt the virtual keyboard failed to respond, which was surprising as I would expect it to be a robust function. A physical keyboard would be preferable anyway.

Display resolution options appear limited

After connecting a Bluetooth keyboard, I think this is a better environment for Google Docs than a Raspberry Pi 4/400 on Raspbian.

Now it is clear the small Voxicon keyboard that was passable for writing notes on the tiny screen, is no longer qualified for typing on the big screen.

The Samsung Android phone with a desktop is quite funny experience, reminding me of how things were on Atari ST or early Mac.

It's weird that I tend to forget the whole phone ecosystem is there: browser, Facebook, maps, calendar, messaging, etc. and whatever you put into your phone are already in place, and as I have left them. Perhaps some part of my mind thinks this is a "computer" and hence a separate world from the phone.

A bunch of apps

This Samsung is at the low-end of Dex-capable phones, so it doesn't have the best processor or a lot of memory (8GB though). I wouldn't expect much from web browsing, for example scrolling news sites is probably better to do on the slick mobile screen.

Dex at least on this phone is not the route for watching Netflix or other streaming services full screen, as it does look a little choppy. Only in an emergency. Casting is far more preferable, but of course it needs a Chromecast dongle in the same network.

The Youtube app felt passable for watching a small video but I'm thinking the small screen might again be more forgiving for low bitrate videos.

It may be the more powerful Samsung phones can do video better and the overall experience could be smoother.

Looking more at third-party apps, it's clear not every app is maintained well enough to play nice with the Dex environment. For example, whereas the Blogger app might work for creating posts on the mobile screen, it was actually better to open Blogger inside the browser in Dex. The app seemed to make a mess out of the keyboard input.

There are hilarious details. Opening a Google service through browser can initiate the phone-based security check – on the exact same device.

At least on S23FE the Dex is hardly a replacement for an entire desktop computer, but it looks like surprisingly diverse tasks can be handled with it and they can benefit from the large screen format.