On a normal day… A day end of April 2019 my personal computer started to “Blue-screen” with a WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR. I started debugging and found out that my CPU is broken. So i opened a case on Intel’s Support system to get a replacement. Of cause that will take a while.

While remove one after the other component of my rig i used my cellphone to search for possible reasons and contact the vendor. Doing that made me asking myself if i’m really hindered not having my PC available. I was able to do anything i would do on my PC just without my PC. So i was not limited in any aspect of my debugging, communication and entertainment during memtests and benchmarks. The only annoying fact is the small screen of my S8+ and missing keyboard to seriously write texts like this.

But wait, when my Mobile was released 3 years ago, Samsung told us that they now provide real desktop experience just by plugin a display and the other missing input/output to the USB-C Port. So i used the dongle shipped with my work laptop to give it a chance… Pling, Dex just started and i found my self on a desktop like window manager.

That is basically my story to find that my Android phone can do more and i started to play around with Dex. Today i’m writing this text on my Galaxy S8+ using a Dex Pad, a Logitech K380 BT Keyboard, a Logitech M590 and my Asus 2k gaming monitor. For audio i connected my phone via Bluetooth through a 3,5 mm jack to my active teufel 5.1, honestly stereo only, but that’s OK for my actual use-cases. It is awesome and definitely one of the actually most underestimated technologies. I was only talking about the future when we are not longer relay on PC’s and laptops but have our computing power directly somehow attached directly to our body. Even when there is no additional interface between my smartphone and myself, honestly we are already all cyborgs with just that small device. Using Dex i realized that the future i’m always thought and speak about is already here. Even more shocking to see Dex, Microsoft’s first try with Windows Phone and Huawei’s’S Desktop mode not being horned enough.

I can do nearly everything with Dex now, an app called Termux provide a basic terminal with ssh client, git, vim and other necessary productivity tools. Browser ecosystems are even more diverse.

There is only one “edge” case for me, gaming. Even if i can not spend to much time, i love to fly around in Star Citizen or create things in Minecraft. Minecraft is available for mobile devices as well, but highly customized to work best on small touch screen devices. Thanks to a friend of mine i learned about shadow a service providing VDI services for private usage and more precise for gaming. Shadown allow me to make use of a highly efficient remote desktop session into a Windows instance provide all necessary Hardware to play even the latest A gaming titles. Friends are shocked when they see me running StarCitizen on my mobile phone ;-)

Resume The future is now. I really want to invite you to give even the Jung and first implementations of that idea a chance cause for most use-cases desktop modes for cell phones are by far enough as daily driver. Looking forward to see the Galaxy Note 10 an of this year and what it can do for me with Dex.