This has been hidden in developer options for a while now, but they’re now releasing it officially. Limited to Pixel 8 and newer devices and no 4k yet.
This used to be exciting stuff about ten years ago when some of us still thought Google was doing cool things.
I think it is just supposed to be Samsung DeX
That’s cool… I guess…
What I really want is to continue to use F-Droid though.
Install Graphene OS on your Pixel.
I’m not giving Google anymore money. I’m actively going to vote for their competitor, Motorola+GrapheneOS.
(Not buying used Pixel.)
I understood OP already has one.
Motorola, yes, but that’s 2027, or thereabouts. As a stop-gap, there’s Lineage OS.
This doesn’t stop the drastic drop in popularity (and potentially development) of FOSS apps.
Lack of users means lack of donations.
We need to stop this BS instead of just trying to get a workaround.
There is no workaround for proprietary platforms other than stopping using them.
Why say “Your Pixel can now…” when my Pixel can’t? Why not say “Pixel 8 and newer devices can now…”.
JTskulk, it is only your Pixel that can not. It works for older Pixels as well, but they specifically tied a few kill switches to your commonly known geo-locations and anyone who ties their shoelaces in a fashion deemed less mertiable.
their shoelaces in a fashion deemed less mertiable
Ian Knot ftw. Can’t beat it.
I have to deduct a merit for myself, as I now see I spelled meritable with a typo.
lol, love you 😄
Jokes on them, I wear velcro shoes!
I knew it!
Yeah meanwhile I was over in the corner trying to figure out how all my laces are tangled in the Velcro of my roller blades. I swear whoever designed Velcro and laces to exist on the same contraption was just trying to be a dick
LOL, sorry bud, but it’s only YOUR laces that get caught in Velcro. Other people’s laces are Velcro-resistant. Your rollerblade manufacturer is just fucking with you.
damn, I knew there was an alterior motive to the knee pads, no one liked those things.
So sort of like the Continuum mode that Windows Phones had, like, ten years ago?
Like desktop mode on Librem5 in 2020, convergence on PinePhone from 2021, or Samsung Dex from a few years ago, too.
And every Ubuntu Touch device with support for external monitors for the last ten years or so. Here’s a demonstration running on a Fairphone 4.
Sadly it won’t work on fairphone 6 because it only has USB 2.0 and there isn’t enough bandwidth.
Oh the Motorola Atrix from like, 2014? I still have the lapdock. Used it with an original RPi for a while to make a terrible laptop.
Wiki says the model is from 2011, and all that functionality was implemented on Android 2.3.x, impressive! Google is only 14 versions behind.
Literally every Samsung Android phone has come with their Dex desktop for like 10 years too.
I fucking hate Google at this point. They’re just an even shittier version of apple now. Locking down their shit for no reason, and claiming decades old innovations are actually new and theirs.
Brother, Apple wrote that playbook 🤣
Yes, but even a diamond encrusted turd still gets flushed, diamonds and all.
i hope it comes to graphene os
Its already available in developer settings on grapheneos I use it daily
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It’s either Linux phone or fighting in the trenches a losing battle against one the most powerful companies in history. Android offering a desktop mode is good if taken in the context of running an open source software on hardware you own.
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locked down
How? They allow users to install 3rd party ROMs and GrapheneOS
unrepairable
They’re not the best, but far from the worst. I’ve done multiple repairs on mine without much issue. There are first party parts and guides available on iFixit.
us company
I guess?
aids in war and surveillance!
You’d be hard pressed to find a manufacturer that doesn’t
This feature is a positive change. Enabling people to minimize the number of devices they need has the potential to significantly reduce the amount of ewaste people generate, and makes desktop features more accessible to people who can’t afford multiple devices.
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There are a lot of assumptions baked into everything you’re saying. It’s really not that deep. Google Pixels make up a tiny fraction of total mobile market share. This isn’t the start of some doomsday scenario where the only computers available are Google Pixels. You’re allowed to buy what you want. I need a phone anyway. All of them are kinda shit from an openness/repairability standpoint. And personally I’d rather have one device than two if I can.
relying on a country that doles out sanctions and bombings like it’s parking tickets.
This is a much larger issue that has little to do with anything we’re talking about
locked down further this year to allow only google-sanctioned software
This does not apply to GrapheneOS, which again you are allowed to install to these devices. Plus they allow use of the linux terminal which people have been experimenting with to run full linux apps (https://www.androidauthority.com/run-desktop-linux-apps-on-android-how-to-3586539/)
We are talking about Android, not Apple.
Android phones can be user repaired and repaired by third parties without Googles permission.
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What part can’t be repaired? Some parts may be soldered to the board, but the board can be fixed without Googles blessing.
And upgrades were never a part of the original comment, so what does that have to do with my comment?
.
Upgrading isn’t repairing, and I said you can repair these devices. My question is what CAN’T you repair, not what can be repaired (which is what I did answer).
.
No, you tried making the false equivalence of claiming that if it cant be fixed for cheap, then it somehow isnt fixable at all.
So it’s i can’t get a car fixed for less than $100, I guess that means cars aren’t fixable?
What is an android PC? Is that like a boat car?
All phones are PCs, this is just connecting external displays.
The shock is that it couldn’t already.
Mobile devices tend to be much less versatile than PCs, mind you, and on purpose, due to one of Steve Jobs’ most misguided apprehensions, that it’d be a good idea to hide the filesystem from the user. (Cue someone somehow claiming that’s Good Actually in three, two, one…)
Hiding the file system is Good Actually because…
Tap for spoiler
Nope, can’t come up with a single reason. It’s fucking terrible.
It’s more than just that, it’s too slow a desktop OS like environment that’s more suited for mouse and keyboard too. It’s not just your phone screen on a bigger screen.
I guess the point is that phone hardware has been powerful enough to do it for a while. It’s surprising that no big companies other than Samsung really put any effort into making it work software wise.
Nah it’s more like a toaster fridge
Samsung has been doing this with Dex for many years ffs.
Yes. And now it’s native in all android! Samsung helped make it!
It’s good when things get better.
It’s good to have a non-vendor specific solution. Although samsung has switched to this and has lost some features for the time being, it should be a benefit long term.
A PC where I can’t install what I want? WTF is the point of that bullshit.
Thanks but I’ll stick to my steam deck for my portable Linux computing needs where I can do what the hell I want.
I guess we’ll see how that goes come September timeframe.
I’m sure it’ll go pretty well on GrapheneOS
Not sure why everyone seems to think GrapheneOS is going to be immune and unaffected by Google actively trying to fuck AOSP to death.
We’ll see what happens long term but they will be unaffected by the September changes.
Because now they have OEM support.
Oh good, so when AOSP is dead in the water, at least GrapheneOS can release hardware without an OS on it?
I guess there is logic to it, the most secure mobile device you can have is none…
It isn’t dead in the water. Google reversed that decision and also I believe part of a lawsuit against google before said it had to maintain the AOSP.
Anyone know if this works with GrapheneOS? I haven’t tested this in a very long time and then I was on stock. Android.
It does in fact work with GOS. I don’t believe this build has been released yet though so you likely still need to toggle it on in the dev settings.
I last tried out the beta version of it on Graphene a couple of months back and it was rough. In fairness though, I was mostly using it to figure out how to use it to install a full fat Linux distro, which is probably a niche use.
My phone’s just updated, so I’ll give it another spin when I get home tonight and report back.
It works fine enough. It’s not going to replace my desktop PC any time soon but it helps a lot for anything involving word processing/documents, as well as gaming on TVs and monitors.
It works okay, but not great for me. I toss my phone on one of my old laptops docking station at work, but some apps like to force a shit resolution. It is pretty neat having them in moveable windows though.
Have you used the latest version?
I haven’t used it in the past few months, I’ll definitely give it another try though.
Edit: Oh, yeah this is a bit different. I like the new prompt asking if it’s extended or desktop. I will definitely have to play with it a bit more, I had tossed it to the back of my brain as a ‘well it exists’ feature.
Imagine what the world could be if we had repairable Arch Linux Phones that can go full desktop mode just like the pixel rn. Aaahhh that turns me on!🤤
Arch user btw
I would definitely not carry my main computer around with me everywhere. Lose/brake/get is stolen and you’re seriously fucked. Too much risk. And it’s not my main computer why would I connect to screens and peripherals?
There is no such thing as an Android PC.
Now there is
No, it’s a phone with a monitor and keyboard. As far as I’m concerned a Chromebook is also not a PC, it’s a phone that’s shaped like a laptop.
I consider my phone to be a PC, and my work phone not to be, because one is clearly a personal computer, and the other a work computer.
brb… need to go send an email from the WC
That’s certainly an opinion.
A Chromebook has literally no phone related functionality. No SMS or calling.
Sorry, I was being snarky. What I meant was that a computer running Android (or iOS) can’t really be counted as a PC, in the sense that Google (or Apple) control what you do with it.
I have a 9a running Graphene and with a “usb C laptop dock” I can use it in “desktop mode”, but I would warn that it is still EXTREMELY buggy and finnicky.
Still neat though.
You’re probably not on the latest release then.
Just got another update yesterday but not sure if there’s any “desktop mode” changes in it. So far my complaint is “desktop mode” things I change/set do not carry over to my next “desktop mode” ?session?.
Is that it? What about “bugs and finickyness”?
I tried it a few weeks ago. It didn’t feel particularly buggy, but it was pretty slow/sluggish. Not the apps themselves, but moving and resizing windows. Basic UI stuff. Just felt like it was still very much a WIP.
I’ve bought 1920x1200 IPS screen from temu. It is small, runs off the phone (if you want) power and works brilliantly. I’m using Windows RDP to use my desktop anywhere I want in the house. Works great for a few month, I had lower resolution for a couple updates, but the current version running on Android 17 Beta2 works just fine, at full resolution.
Could you link the screen from temu?
