Samsung DeX is one of the most interesting accessories of the Galaxy S8 and S8+. The proprietary dock will let the newly launched smartphone power up a full-fledged PC. You only need an HDMI supported the display, a keyboard, a mouse and of course a Galaxy S8 or S8+. After Microsoft and Motorola, this is Samsung’s attempt to run a desktop with a smartphone.
Coming to the hardware details, Samsung DeX is a simple smartphone dock with an HDMI port, two full-sized USB ports, an Ethernet jack, and a USB Type-C opening. The dock sports inbuilt support for Bluetooth keyboards and mouse. This way, you can keep those USB ports free for additional functionalities.
There is also a dedicated cooling fan to cool down your Galaxy S8 / S8+. This will cancel out any throttling issue that may arise due to overheating as the phone will remain in a claustrophobic situation.
To make a computer powered by Galaxy S8 or S8+, the first thing you will need is a display. You may use any screen you wish, be it your television or desktop monitor. Just that it needs to support HDMI connectivity. Next, attach the keyboard, mouse and rest your S8 into the Samsung DeX. You are ready to go.
Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ Launched With Quad HD+ Infinity Display, Iris Sensor
The operating system scales beautifully to accommodate the large display area. Samsung’s proprietary software turns the user interface into a desktop like getup. You can run fully resizable windowed apps just like you do in a traditional Windows 10 PC. The entire appearance is somewhat a mixture of Chrome OS and Microsoft Windows 10.
Samsung has worked with companies like Adobe and Microsoft to develop their respective applications for DeX. You can work with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop Express, etc. very similar to the way you do on a full sized desktop. However, the number of apps supported is very limited currently.
Speaking of pricing, Samsung is yet to shed any light on it. The company did not disclose the availability details too. With most of this phone-desktop concepts being a failure, can the Snapdragon 835 SoC finally turn Samsung DeX to a winner?
