Android 15 Beta Has an Optional Desktop Mode (theregister.com) 28
An anonymous reader shares a report: It's been tried before, more than once, but if it comes as a stock feature, maybe people will actually start to use the feature. Google's Pixel 9 range of fondleslabs is coming soon, and the company has already announced an event, Made by Google, for August 13th at 1000 Pacific Time (that's 1700 UTC, and 1800 for Brits.) The new devices are very likely to run Android 15 -- whose first developer preview appeared in February. Android Police reports that one of the less obvious features of the beta may continue to final release and could become more apparent: the desktop mode that can be activated in Android 14 QPR3 Beta 2.1.
Having a desktop mode in Android isn't of itself a new thing. Samsung has offered its Dex feature since the Galaxy S8, and various vultures ventured Dex-wards in 2017 and again in 2018. The snag was that you needed a special dock to try it. Android 10 gained a hidden desktop mode in its developer features, but it wasn't easy to find. These days, though, the baseline is rather closer. Monitors with USB C connections are quite ordinary now, with ordinary prices to match, unlike, say, their prices five years ago. You can even get affordable portable ones.
Having a desktop mode in Android isn't of itself a new thing. Samsung has offered its Dex feature since the Galaxy S8, and various vultures ventured Dex-wards in 2017 and again in 2018. The snag was that you needed a special dock to try it. Android 10 gained a hidden desktop mode in its developer features, but it wasn't easy to find. These days, though, the baseline is rather closer. Monitors with USB C connections are quite ordinary now, with ordinary prices to match, unlike, say, their prices five years ago. You can even get affordable portable ones.
Meanwhile in Ipad land (Score:2)
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Being a limited consumer, not creator product is a feature, not a bug as far as Apple is concerned.
If you made iPad sufficiently attractive that it could replace the Mac which Apple thinks you should also own, that would be a bad thing for the fruit company. Similarly, Macs are denied foldover screens, touch screens and tablet modes to prevent you from getting the idea that you don't need an iPad too.
Apple may be the only company that could sustainably support that arrogance.
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The fact that Microsoft and Android companies keep trying to combine mobile and desktop workflows into a single device, and keep producing results that nobody wants to use, suggests that Apple's approach might be the correct one. If it can't be done well, better not to do it at all.
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The fact that Microsoft and Android companies keep trying to combine mobile and desktop workflows into a single device, and keep producing results that nobody wants to use...
The same was said about laptops ten or fifteen years ago, and now we have laptops that are more powerful than desktops most consumers, and a good majority of developers, need. Just because YOU don't want it, doesn't mean no one else does.
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The same was said about laptops ten or fifteen years ago
That's simply incorrect. Laptops have been successfully sold and marketed since the 1980's, and they have always used the same OS as their desktop counterparts.
Just because YOU don't want it, doesn't mean no one else does
You're right, it doesn't matter whether I want it or not.
What matters is whether anyone else wants it -- and so far, all the evidence points to the conclusion that nobody else wants it.
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I am more than happy to keep my phone a standalone device.
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I miss the Windows phone. I could walk into the office, plug it into a USB hub and have a keyboard, mouse and full size monitor. Being a phone at that time it was memory and speed constrained, but it worked very well within those limits (of course today's phones are more powerful than my laptop was then.) One more good product doomed by Ballmer's short attention span. (Another was the original Surface, which was tabletop sized. My engineer coworkers Alpha tested it and were enthusiastic, but it never s
The ever lasting dream (Score:3)
I've been waiting for convergence ... (Score:3)
... to finally become a thing now für a few years. Samsung Dex is a neat semi-step forward, but it takes Google our Apple to finally make it happen. I suspect Apple has full convergence ready - they use the same ICs everywhere now - and only are waiting for someone else to make the move so that they can then show the world how it's done.
Convergence should be equally trivial for Google. Nice to finally see them making it happen. My cheap-ass 200 Euro Moto G84 phone has north of 100 teraflops processing power and 12GB of RAM. Not being able to use it as a desktop PC is just silly at this point.
The vendors are playing chicken and want to delay convergence as long as possible to sell more expensive hardware. Google couldn't care less about hardware sales, so it makes sense that they are the first one to make a serious move.
I for one welcome it and hope it happens ASAP.
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Dex (Score:2)
I know its not part of official Android, but Samsung's Dex mode works pretty flawlessly for me. I don't use it often (mainly if I'm at home and my home internet is offline for more than an hour, which doesn't happen often), but particularly for routine web browsing and email it works fine.
You could use DEX without Dock... (Score:2)
There are USB-C - HDMI cables that worked fine with my S10
And I had bluetooth keyboard and mouse - so no problem with the mode at all..
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Works perfectly with a USB-C to USB-C monitor or dock, too.
Aside from the practical issues though (not just having a monitor and KB+M waiting for you wherever you go) and the limited performance being more noticable on the desktop, the main issue is that it's all just still phone/tablet apps. Samsung did a decent job with the desktop environment overall, but the apps are still phone or at best tablet apps and just aren't pleasant to use for anything but an emergency email or something.
Not a Linux fanboy but
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Not a Linux fanboy but I'd rather just have it run actual Linux desktop apps that someone at least attempted to design for a desktop use.
OK, so install Termux and an X server. You don't even need root.
Attractive (Score:2)
Like VR, or dating a hot Karen, it's an idea too compelling to let go though it hasn't ever worked right.
Fondleslab (Score:1)
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The article has been published on the British tech web site The Register. The community there has their own slang, not usually very respectful. For example, the "vultures" mentioned in the summary are the site's journalists; "fondleslab" is another example, and has been in use for many years now for tablets and/or large phones.
This said, The Register is one of the few places left where you can get quality journalism, good technical information and (mostly) civilized discourse.
Shit (Score:1)
I had some random android phone in 2011 with a desktop mode. Maybe a RAZR. Don't remember don't care. It was shit. I even bought a specialized dock for it, to instantly transform it into a Laptop. Shit as well. Apple toyed with the idea 15 years ago and dismissed it. Assholes that they are, Apple was right. Tight Integration of all devices turned out to be the way.
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I had some random android phone in 2011 with a desktop mode. Maybe a RAZR. Don't remember don't care. It was shit. I even bought a specialized dock for it, to instantly transform it into a Laptop. Shit as well. Apple toyed with the idea 15 years ago and dismissed it. Assholes that they are, Apple was right. Tight Integration of all devices turned out to be the way.
Yeah, nothing has advanced since 2011 because that was when we reached the end of the line for technology advancement.
Did you stop to think that maybe the RAZR's desktop mode was shit because the hardware and software technology wasn't up to the task in 2011?
Re: Shit (Score:1)
The hardware was fine. The concept was shit. With Apple, my phone can be 3000 miles away yet my Mac is perfectly in sync with it. That is the way.
Hey Google. Stick to the knitting. (Score:3)
Looks like a ChromeOS desktop, actually (Score:2)
I tested a Windows laptop recently and was appalled at the in-your-face pop ups, dialogs, ads, and general messiness of the desktop. Say what you will about Chromebooks, their desktop is dead-simple. As it should be.
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You were looking at a new machine with no commercial applications on it, so it's all nagware (Microsoft being the major culprit and re-installing its nagware after an update) demanding you buy the real application. Android OS is now better than Windows OS, in many respects.
But the nagging doesn't stop when one buys the application: It now complains it's not being used. Corporations are more interested in tracking user's behaviour and searching user's data, than maintaining the application they sold.
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I tested a Windows laptop....
That was your mistake right there.
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I never understood why Google decided to maintain two operating systems. Just adapt Android to the desktop, or adapt ChromeOS to phones. Why have two?
year of Linux desktop is near! (Score:2)
Sadly, this first posting about that a day after the article came up means the year of Slashdot relevance is behind us... Ah well.