I’ve been obsessed with the benefits of Samsung Dex for a month now. I tested the service in its early days, when it was still necessary to link to a physical document to run it. To date, I’ve been able to turn my laptop (connected to a 4K monitor) into a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra with PC interface by just pressing it twice.

i used it to work, although I use it mostly connected to an Xbox controller and running some of my favorite emulators and games. Is it the best? Dex is not alone and I don’t quite understand how other manufacturers don’t bet more on improving these functions.

Motorola’s alternative Samsung Dex and Ready For manages to run a PC interface on both monitors and TVs. Best of all, this process has been accomplished completely wirelessly for several years. Cable will always be the best option if we don’t want any latency, but I should point out that if the connection is stable this little lag is not a minor issue.

The adaptation of the Android UI to Dex (although Ready isn’t inefficient) is simply flawless. We literally have access to a computer (in this case a PC with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 12 GB of RAM). Limitations are only imposed by the apps themselves: We don’t get the same experience in Android’s Photoshop, Excel or Chrome as we do in Windows apps, but the daily demands aren’t too high.

There certain limitationsfor example not being able to play Netflix content (for some reason we can’t run protected content outside of the phone), but other than that we are dealing with a complete system.

Since the launch of DeX, few have dared to face it. Motorola has been betting on Ready For for a while, and for a few months now, the Google Pixel 8 itself has been rumored to have a desktop mode similar to these two alternatives.

Server’s opinion? When you buy a Samsung or Motorola, if you do not mess up the settings, It’s not easy to even realize We have a very powerful tool hidden in phone settings.

This article was written in DeX.I reply via Google Chrome, chatting with my colleagues on Slack, my partner on Telegram, and with Photoshop open for some montages. It is a tool that can replace the PC for office use.

Who knows if bets on this type of technology will double in the coming years or if it will lead to oblivion and current marginal use? It is a hidden sugar that can be very, very useful right now.

Image | xataka

on Xataka | Eight scenarios why it’s a good idea to connect your mobile phone to a monitor or TV with Samsung DeX