Android’s desktop interface leaks
(9to5google.com)285 points by thunderbong 5 days ago
285 points by thunderbong 5 days ago
As mentioned in TFA, Android has had a "desktop" phone projection mode for years and it doesn't seem to have caught on. This seems to be a distro for dedicated desktop devices, I’m not sure what the point is when its main competitor would be the other OS Google already makes for those devices.
Last time, the hardware was barely capable of driving a 1080p display at a constant frame rate with more than one app open.
These days, phones are more powerful than the laptops they give to kids to study on.
Samsung DeX has existed for years and works as well as it has for ages. We don't need to wait on Google to make this work. At best, Google will make this type of tech available in software so you can Chromecast/Miracast/whatever it to your display when your cheap phone doesn't do DP-Alt mode.
What I think this is more likely to be about is ChromeOS being killed and Android taking its place. It's not secret that Google is working on that, this just seems to be someone dogfeeding the latest build of the desktop Android build.
I'm using this right now on a work trip. Since I don't want to use my work computer for personal stuff, I carry a small bag that has a mouse, small keyboard, USB-C hub, and USB-C to HDMI cable. I set that up while I'm in my hotel room and use my Fold7 as a personal laptop. The items mentioned are all kept neatly in that small bag and it just sits at the bottom of my work bag until I want to use them.
This exists, it is called the NexDock[0]. I have never tried it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Jm8IiwURQ
That's 14 years old. Kind of crazy this concept hasn't developed more in the meantime.
Mini laptops have been a thing for decades [1], some with cool expanding keyboards [2]. They generally kinda suck.
If I wanted a weird small portable computer, I would buy a steam deck with a "Decktop" [3]. Or, this awesome modern thing [4].
[1] Mid 2000 Sony model: https://www.ebay.com/itm/388376162735?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=2...
[2] IBM model with expanding keyboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvcl4kmOxPo
[3] Desktop steam deck keyboard stand...thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXZuAWYujm4
If this allows one to still have (linux terminals?), then its (fine?) but Klaster_1 suggests that installing software would become hard without OS vendor blessing.
I mean, is this OS literally just android with a more desktop like UI?
Didn't Samsung have something like this called (just searched) Samsung Dex?
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Samsung+DeX&t=ffab&ia=images&iax=i...
What I would prefer is a linux device phone being more widespread than Android PC. Linux in PC is mostly pretty good.
We probably need some good linux phones. One of the biggest issues I find is that they are really price-y so even though I don't want much specs, I find it troubling to justify a 2x price increase in such sense.
> Didn't Samsung have something like this called (just searched) Samsung Dex?
Samsung Dex still exists and still sucks. It's probably the best desktop experience available on Android but it's nowhere near usable as a daily driver. It feels a like a lightweight window manager from the 2008 era.
A root account violates principle of least priviledge. With proper design a root account should not be needed.
I wonder what does this mean for the attestation layer? If you can run banking apps on a desktop, this would be a massive game changer for many of us who only use normie OSes because of the need to use services that are mobile app only (or with functionally limited web apps). Means we would only need to keep a single phone rather than two
ChromeOS is 14 years old, not really sure why they’re just now going this route.
Android laptops are nothing new, unless you don’t count the crappy low end ones that have no business running it.
I’m sure Google will make their flagship apps nicely tailored but regular phone centric apps has to be an awkward experience.
I like ChromeOS but really having two different operating systems is a liability.
Despite all the effort they've put into it, chromeOS is worse at running Android apps than android tablets except for support for having them in resizable windows.
All they need to do is improve the support for a laptop mode on android and make chrome on android in the laptop mode equivalent to chrome on ChromeOS and they can kill ChromeOS entirely.
It makes no sense to have to choose between two operating systems
You should be able to get a fully compatible android like experience in tablet mode and a chromebook like experience in laptop mode all in one os
And the ChromeOS like experience should be available on any android tablet if you use it with a keyboard
Is this going to mean ChromeOS is going to eventually die or be merged with Android? Curious.
Seemed potentially like a new kernel, rather than a new OS, and thus potentially a replacement for the Android kernel one day.
But that would mean all of the Android SDKs would need to be abstracted away from Linux, but it seems like they abandoned some of that effort and are mostly just emulating Android on Fuschia for now.
The Android system is such a pain to work with. I’m curious to see whether they actually fixed the fundamentals making it unappealing for general purpose computing or they just stuck Android onto Chromebooks (guessing the latter).
The good part about this is they've invested in bringing extensions support to Chrome.. of course only those "desktop" builds, but the code is there and for now you can use this on normal Android - if you compile it for yourself or download the Chromium APK.
I wonder whether they'll keep pretending that extensions are not supported on Android, perhaps even intentionally breaking support on mobile.. or maybe they'll stop this madness and just support extensions officially..
I wonder what gogole's strategy with fuchsia is going to be.
Samsung made DeX at some point for the exact same purpose, but that's a Samsung special.
Google already has this in their Pixel phones (8+). Plug a Pixel into a standard laptop dock (may need to enter dev settings and tick the "force desktop mode" toggle) and you're welcomed by pretty much exactly this UI.
My Huawei P20 Pro did this in 2018. It was fabulous, turned the OS into a mini-computer with a taskbar, desktop, icons, browser etc. It was still the best phone Ive ever owned (and I used to work at Google). It was no wonder Google killed with GSM. It was light years ahead even back then and they really hate competition.
Oh, so it's just yet another MacOS clone.
Can somebody, anybody have one single unique idea?
God this looks like a nightmare. Using Android on a desktop would be a fascist dystopia. Using it on phones is bad enough, computing while wearing a straight-jacket, but now they're going to have complete control of our computers and spy on everything we do on it? I can't imagine a worse outcome for the PC.
So would it make sense to sell a folding plastic shell with screen, keyboard and trackpad in it that you can bring in your bag and pull out to plug your phone into it?