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.
There is no such thing as an Android PC.
Now there is
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.
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.
last thing I want is an android pc. well maybe not the last but nope
I found these kind of features really useful. I had to submit some documents that I needed to do some work on before they got sent off. Everything was local, and with a keyboard/monitor/mouse I could have a browser, my email, and the document I was editing on the screen at the same time. So much faster typing and clicking.
I use my Steamdeck for that more often now if I just want a desktop while i am traveling if I don’t want to bring the laptop. I just mount the phone as a folder, so even that is easy.
I mean I get it kinda. I just have never really went for the smartphone thing. The laptop is basically my end all be all of technology. I too though love my steamdeck. I actually bought it as kinda of indulgence that I justified with the idea it would become my new laptop but I really like having gaming on a different device and just not worrying about it on my laptop.
Your Pixel
Limited to Pixel 8 and newer devices and no 4k yet.
Oh, so your Pixel, but not my Pixel.
Our Pixel ⚒️🎵
Yeah, I have a pixel 7 and was disappointed on vacation to learn that its USB-C port can’t do video when I wanted to plug it into a hotel room TV.
I don’t get why this is a Pixel thing at all and not an Android thing though. Shouldn’t any Android OS device that can do full video output over USB-C be able to do this?
Not all USB-C are equal. They can add or remove features as they please
Right but I’m specifically referring to devices where their USB-C port is capable of full video out.
Video out is frustratingly uncommon. Samsung, some Sony’s, and only very recently Pixels. Google was vocally against video out for a long time. And SD cards (gotta pay for drive). You were expected to roll the dice with whether Chromecast works with a random TV and wifi combination.
Pixels were popular for two reasons: the camera and “basic black rectangle” device (RIP Nexus).
The LG V20 had it all, still miss daily driving that phone
I had the Nexus 6 and then moved to the V30. Both of those phones were awesome and I still miss them.
Yeah, Chromecast has been kind of a disaster for Google imho, in that it never got widespread adoption in TVs. If they’d pushed an open standard they might’ve been able to get that over the finish-line and get buy-in from 3rd parties. But instead every smart TV and smart phone has its own video streaming approach, it seems.
It’s supposed to be for Android 16 kn general once the feature is fully baked
I am confused.
In developer options in basic android you can simply enable the feature right?
My old Sony xperia 5 ii can do that and it definitely isn’t a Sony feature…
There’s hardware required to shunt the display out the USB port and since it’s not a super in demand feature they usually don’t implement it. As such the software for looking nice while doing it isn’t as developed.
But yes, it’s been in developer settings for years, and was usable if your hardware supported it.
Shouldn’t any Android OS device that can do full video output over USB-C be able to do this?
It will eventually. Pixels are usually the first ones to get everything because they are first-party devices.
The 4 (iirc) also had USBC video out but google removed that functionality only to now have a reason to sell you a new phone. I hope its actually good and they publish source for it as part of AOSP, otherwise this news is fucking useless.
There were stability issues with the video out. People love to assume malice but most of the time there was actually good reasons
Thats nonsense, there are plenty of phones and tablets with usbc video output. Its been a feature for like a decade. Other companies have had working desktop modes for a long time and google just abandoned their work on it until they decided they could use it as a marketing feature. They probably just didnt want the pixel to cut into the chromebook marketshare.
this has been well covered by now. just cause it works in product x, doesn’t mean it was implemented correctly in product y
sad pixel 5 noises
I’ve been waiting for a camera bump free upgrade, the 10a might be it but I’m reluctant to continue up the phone size escalator.
My guy if you use that phone for anything remotely sensitive you should get a new one. It hasn’t received security updates in over 2 years. The 8a is about $200 refurbished with 6 more years of updates and you won’t notice the bump if you use a case.
I don’t use a case and I use Lineage. I’m not really concerned. I already need to crop the top of the screen in developer settings just so that I can reach the notification bar, I’m not really enthusiastic about getting something even bigger.
I’m not sure if lineage has this option, but on my Pixel 8, at least, there’s an option in system -> gestures called One-handed mode. If you use gesture navigation, it lets you swipe down on the navigation bar to either drag the top of the screen into reach or open the notification drawer. You can also map it to the accessibility button (and put it in the navigation bar) if you use the 3-button navigation.
I’m sure you’re content with your solution, but I just wanted to throw this out here in case you wanted to try something new. .
Yeah I’ve tried those but it seems like such a hack. Weirdly, the one handed “pull screen into reach” doesn’t allow you to swipe down across the notifications bar to open notifications, in that mode it only registers swipes that start from below the notifications bar. And the floating button gets a little unwieldy since it overlaps with the volume popup. And in the “show notifications” mode, the button opens notifications but doesn’t let you close them (once you press it twice for the “control center” it no longer does anything)
Not to mention it doesn’t really help with the phone itself being uncomfortable to hold. I’m trying my best to vote with my wallet, but that has meant sticking with a Pixel 2 up until a few years ago, and the Pixel 5 was my “only 2mm taller” compromise - I completely overlooked the fact that the Pixel 2 screen starts like 1cm from the top while the Pixel 5 screen starts nearly at the top. The Pixel 10a is almost 10mm taller, so I’m not sure if I’ll be sold on it.
I actually bought a OnePlus 6 something (t?) at one point fully intending to give in to a bigger screen but I hated it and returned it.
Yep. Pixel 7P over here really bummed that this isn’t available because of poor choices Google made at the hardware level on this phone.
Let’s be clear, for a feature that Samsung phones have had for a decade at this point.
They sure did have a version of it. But you had to run their privacy nightmare app suite on their mutilated android OS. So no one cared or cares.
This feature debuted on the Moto Atrix in 2011. There was even a version of Ubuntu that could use the feature.
For some reason, I thought this was already possible and it was something I was jealous of as an iPhone user.
Samsung S devices have Dex (desktop mode) for years now
Yeah, I stumbled over that when I wanted to charge my phone while I’m away in a meeting. Plugged it into the USB-C at my desk, suddenly the content of my phone opened up on my two office monitors, lol.
Must be what I’m thinking of.
it was, just in an early state under the developer settings
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.
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.
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!
And a monitor that supports usb-c, I assume.
Or just a converter from USB-C to whatever you have on your current screen.
DisplayLink. The Dell box I use to hotdesk my office laptop by day also works as a KVM on my pixel 9a. I get power, monitor, keyboard, mouse and ethernet on one cable.
It’s good for watching movies.
Do you mean DisplayPort?
No, that’s different. Displaylink is basically KVM over USB-C.
As far as i know, display link requires software not available on the pixel, so you must be using display port and confusing both. Display port supports all the things you said
No. DisplayLink is video out over a regular USB protocol/connection, not “alt mode”. It’s for when you don’t have true video out. It’s compressed to hell and stupid.
I think you mean DP Alt Mode.
I love this! Wish iPhone would have this feature.
If so, I could do all my work with just my iPhone.
I have a 15, and will hold out on a new iPhone for at least 4-5 years. I may go longer if there is not a desktop mode by then though.
iPhone will never have it for the same reason that iPads don’t get proper window management and MacBooks don’t get touchscreens.
This comment gave me flashbacks to when I tried to use a cheap external touchscreen monitor plugged into an old macbook pro with a singular usb-c cable. It “worked” but the ux was a disaster
So sort of like the Continuum mode that Windows Phones had, like, ten years ago?
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.
Brother, Apple wrote that playbook 🤣
Yes, but even a diamond encrusted turd still gets flushed, diamonds and all.
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.
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?.
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.
Yes, although it will be a full ANDROID PC.
I had video out via MHL back in like 2013 and a usable desktop environment on an HTC M7 or something like that. Haven’t had a phone that could do anything similar since, and it’s kind of wild with how much more powerful phones are these days that desktop modes aren’t more common. I would love to not have to carry a laptop around when my phone is more than powerful enough for what I do for work.
I’ve been waiting for this for a while. Is it really “stable” though? There’s very limited info on this but what little there is seems to suggest it’s not ready.
In other news, Windows has Linux built-in now, so you don’t need to ever install it yourself!
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.
