Samsung’s New DeX Accessory Does a Pretty Good Job Making Your Smartphone a Desktop

Editor's note: I read this article and found myself wondering if I was looking at the death of desktops. Yes, I know the PC market has not been doing well, but I figured that businesses, school, and hardcore gamers would keep desktops/laptops going. Now? I am not so sure…

BGR

We went over the basics in our hands-on Galaxy S8 preview as well as our other coverage of Samsung's be announcements on Wednesday. In a nutshell, the new Samsung DeX is a tiny puck that slides open to become a cradle. The Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ sits in the dock and connects via the USB-C port, and the DeX can then connect to a monitor and wired or wireless keyboard and mouse.

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We were lucky enough to check DeX out in person, and we can assure you that the experience is impressive. The skeptics out there will wonder if there's really any way Android translates well to a desktop environment, and we can assure you that the answer is yes.

Samsung's own apps have been optimized for DeX, so they look just like desktop apps on other platforms. Windows can be dragged around and resized, and Samsung has even added right-click support with contextual menus like you would find on Windows or macOS. Some third parties have optimized their apps as well — most notably, Microsoft's Office suite — and more support is undoubtedly coming.

Third-party apps that haven't been optimized for DeX still work just fine on the big screen, they just can't be resized. It's a lot like Android app support in Chrome OS. In fact, the entire experience feels a lot like Chrome OS in that it's lightweight and super fast. Apps open in the blink of an eye, and web pages load just as quickly.

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Source: Samsung's New DeX Accessory Does a Pretty Good Job Making Your Smartphone a Desktop