Samsung DeX Dock: Turn your Galaxy S8 into a complete PC. Samsung Dex Station - Review a Workstation for Your Galaxy S8 Connecting a Docking Station to a TV
Not so long ago, Microsoft introduced two new models of its flagship smartphones- Lumia 950 as well as Lumia 950 XL. A special bonus of this presentation was a specialized docking station designed to facilitate the work with these devices. The developers of the rival Samsung company strongly liked this idea. The result of this interest was the presentation of its version of the docking station called Samsung DeX. This South Korean creation was shown to people at Unpacked 2017. Its main purpose is to turn the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphones into full-fledged computers running on the operating room. Android system... What is the result of the efforts of Asian engineers? Detailed overview docking stations for smartphones Samsung DeX will help answer this question.
Samsung DeX design
The design of this docking station consists of two main elements. Let's consider them in detail.
- Horizontal round module- the main functional component of the described gadget. This is where all the technical stuffing is located. Top part the horizontal module contains an adapter on which the smartphone is mounted and connected to the device. On the sides are functional ports and connectors, which we will talk about in more detail a little later. The surface of the horizontal module is made of smooth black plastic. Its width is only slightly larger than those smartphone models for which the device is intended.
- Vertical round module. Call given element purely horizontal is not entirely correct, since it is capable of acquiring different angles of inclination. However, the second structural component is located on the first, and the touch occurs through the bottom of the circle. Therefore, it can be called vertical. The main purpose of the component in question is to create a support for the phone. Adjusting the tilt angles allows you to put your smartphone in the most comfortable position in which the entire display is perfectly visible. The second purpose of the upper part of the docking station is to remove hot air during operation. To fulfill this mission, the engineers equipped the rear wall of the module with a grill. The front part does not contain any functional or other additions. The only embellishment is the Samsung lettering in the center. The vertical round module is also made of black plastic, so the whole structure looks uniform.
Samsung DeX Ports, Connectors & Networking
Manufacturers have equipped this model docking stations are the most important functional sockets. In particular, on the side surface of the device, the user will find:
- 2 inputs for USB 2.0;
- HDMI jack for connecting a monitor;
- 1 entrance under USB Type C to charge your smartphone;
- 1 port for connecting wired internet.
Samsung DeX functionality
The docking station in question was created in order to facilitate the performance of work tasks for people who work remotely on mobile devices. Therefore, the first thing the developers thought about was optimization. We can say that they coped well with the task. Samsung DeX supports:
- Microsoft office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point);
- Adobe applications (such as Acrobat);
- proprietary programs from Samsung;
- the most popular internet browsers.
When it comes to video playback, everything is pretty good here too. Through the monitor, which is set to Full HD resolution, the picture will be played back at up to 60 fps. But on this pleasant surprises do not end. The docking station will provide connection to an Ultra Full HD screen. Of course, the smoothness of the picture will drop to 30 fps, but this is still a decent indicator for a device of this kind.
Since remote work is carried out via the Internet, the quality wired connection has been given close attention. The result of the efforts of the South Korean developers was that the described model of the docking station can receive and receive data at speeds up to 100 MB inclusive.
The creators took into account that the performance of these functions will impose a heavy load on the technical elements, therefore Samsung DeX is equipped with a compact but efficient cooling system. Fans quickly blow hot air out of the dock through plastic grilles located on the back vertical module... Thus, the performance of the device will remain at high level... Another advantage of the integrated cooling system is the volume of its operation. Even at the maximum load of all the docking station's capabilities, the fans will function almost silently.
Another important point that has received close attention is the charging speed of smartphones. Of course, the S8 and S8 Plus models have sufficiently powerful batteries that can provide an entire day of surfing the Internet, but situations are different, and without a working smartphone, a person will not be able to complete the task. Therefore, Samsung DeX supports the popular Adaptive Fast Charging technology. Thanks to her, the user will be able to replenish the charge of his phone as quickly as possible and continue working. So the owner of such a docking station is definitely not in danger of disruption of the deadline due to a dead device.
Pros and cons of Samsung DeX
This accessory for Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphones has a number of advantages. Let's try to highlight the most important of them.
- Light weight- this allows a person to carry the device even over long distances without any particular difficulties.
- The convenience of use. The model contains the necessary ports and connectors for connecting a monitor and control modules, so that all work will be done quickly and efficiently.
- More freedom to the owner. Having such a device, a person loses attachment to any one workplace. Now it can perform work operations wherever there is a monitor and a stable Internet.
- Increased functionality. The docking station makes the phones of these models almost full-fledged computers. Now creating and editing various files can take place without a full-fledged PC. Moreover, the compactness of the device reduces the requirements for the area of the workplace.
- Support for 4K resolution. This is an advantage that testifies to the foresight of the developers. Of course, while the Ultra HD format is poorly distributed, over time, support for such a high resolution will be a key requirement for portable devices.
- A very limited range of supported mobile devices. So far, only two smartphones can work on this docking station, so the mentioned luxury will not be available to owners of other phones from Samsung.
- Limited optimization. Of course, such a device will open all the main applications without problems even on a huge screen, however office programs the needs of many people are not limited. There is still a lot useful applications on Android, which are still waiting for their optimization. Of course, even without adaptation, the docking station will deploy programs to the entire monitor, but the picture quality may turn out to be so poor that it will be impossible to work.
Samsung DeX price and video review
The price of Samsung DeX in Russia is about 150 euros. Below is a short video review of this device:
As you can see, the Samsung DeX docking station is a very useful product that can significantly facilitate work on Galaxy smartphones S8 and S8 Plus. Of course, the range of supported phones and programs is rather limited; and the cost of such a device is far from small. Still, this South Korean docking station model has important functionalities, so it can be considered a useful technical addition, well worth the price.
The era of smartphones began more than ten years ago, but even then many users realized that they had not just a phone in their pocket, but full-fledged computer... Not surprisingly, manufacturers have started to release various device options for using the smartphone as a desktop PC.
The first really successful solution can boast of Microsoft, which introduced its flagship Lumia 950 with Continuum support in 2015. You can read more about this in our . However, it was difficult to call Microsoft's solution ideal. The engineers continued to conjure further in their closets. Another proposal on how to make a full-fledged working tool out of a smartphone was made by Samsung, and today we will see what Korean minds have come up with - in our review.
Samsung DeX design and layout
The first thing worth noting is that not only Samsung engineers, but also designers worked on the creation of DeX. The device itself is round and made of practical black plastic. It will not take up much space on your desk and will not spoil appearance work space.
All ports are located on the back of the docking station: these are two USB 2.0, HDMI, USB Type-C and a full Ethernet connector.
With conventional USB 2.0, you can connect various peripherals to work with DeX. HDMI is needed to connect a monitor, and Ethernet is for wired connection to the Internet (if required). USB Type-C is used to provide power to the DeX and to recharge your smartphone.
In this case, the question arises: "Where to connect the smartphone, because all ports are busy?" And everything is very simple. With a slight movement of the hand "pants turn“… The top cover slides to a vertical position (a slider mechanism is used here) and a platform for a smartphone with USB plug Type-C, through which you connect your phone to the DeX.
But it was not without jambs, and it cannot be otherwise. The DeX lacks a 3.5mm audio output. Therefore, the sound is output directly through the speakers of the smartphone itself or through external wireless sound sources - bluetooth speakers or headphones. I tested DeX in conjunction with and it is worth noting that the dynamics of the smartphone was sufficient for comfortable use. The volume was sufficient both for listening to music and for watching movies in a noisy company.
DeX: what is it and what is it eaten with?
Even a child can connect Samsung DeX, there is nothing difficult here. The performance is also pleasing. It takes about 10 seconds from the moment you insert your smartphone into DeX until the system is fully loaded.
Samsung did their best when they adapted the system to work on large displays... Externally, the DeX working environment resembles that of Windows. You have a desktop with shortcuts, the bottom panel where are displayed open programs, analogue of the "start" button with the list installed applications... I will note, if someone did not understand, DeX is not a separate operating system, it's just an add-on over Android. If it's really quite rude to say, then this is such a launcher. And this is a plus, not a minus. After all, in this case, most of the Android applications installed on your smartphone work with DeX.
But there is a second side to the coin - application developers must adapt them to work in DeX, but there are not very many such applications. And again, Samsung engineers are coming to the fore, making it possible to scale applications for convenient work on the big screen. You can stretch windows with applications to the size you need, as is done in Windows and MacOS.
But not everything is so good - after all, there are applications that do not lend themselves to scalability. In them, you can only choose in which orientation to launch the program: portrait or landscape. But this is already a stone in the garden of specific software developers, and not a claim to Samsung.
Although I will also throw a pebble into the garden of Koreans, so as not to relax: not all branded applications can even be scaled, not to mention full-fledged work. For a week of use, I found only one application that flatly refused to run on DeX - this is the UFC game. But for the game it is forgivable, after all, DeX is not a game console.
What can you do with Samsung DeX? Yes, almost everything is the same as what the average PC and smartphone user does now. Browsing, watching movies, videos from YouTube, listening to music, manipulating files and folders, working with text editors, photo editing, chatting in social networks- This is my standard set tasks when working on a laptop and DeX with them easily coped.
Let's go in order. The Chrome browser is perfectly adapted to work with DeX, and the external is practically no different from the usual Chrome browser for Windows or MacOS. You can watch movies either directly from your browser or using your favorite application. Samsung's standard My Files app is great for managing files and folders.
By default, all Samsung smartphones have a pre-installed Microsoft package Office. It is perfectly adapted to work with DeX, but not so simple. To run Microsoft applications on DeX, you will need a subscription to Office 365 services. But the light did not go like a wedge on the solution from "soft", you can download any text editor convenient for you from Google play... for example, a set of Google Docs fully satisfies my needs.
To edit the photos, I used the Snapseed app that I use on my smartphone. It was enough for me. If you need better and more professional processing, then there are applications from Adobe available on Google Play, the capabilities of which are almost the same as those of the desktop versions.
The most important thing is that by connecting your smartphone to DeX, you do not completely lose it. Messages, calls, notifications - you can continue to interact with all this, while working with applications on the big screen.
The Koreans have not forgotten about data security. If any authorization method is installed on your smartphone when unlocking the screen, then no one can get into Samsung DeX just like that. You can unlock your device with a password, a fingerprint scanner, or an iris scan. The latter is more for show, since for scanning the phone must be brought to the face at a distance of 10-15 centimeters, and when it is connected to DeX, it is problematic to do this. But unlocking with a fingerprint scanner is very convenient.
When you start actively working with Samsung DeX, simultaneously opening a bunch of links in the browser, launching a video in the background and working with documents, the smartphone starts to warm up. But here, too, smart Koreans have foreseen everything - a small cooler is built into the docking station that cools your smartphone.
conclusions
What can you say in the end? The future belongs to such technologies. Yes, it's still too early to say that a smartphone in conjunction with DeX can fully replace a desktop PC. The main problem of the Samsung solution is the lack of software and its incomplete adaptation to work on bigger screen... But even in this state, there are already large companies that have purchased Samsung DeX for their employees for office work... Knowing the capabilities of Samsung, I am sure that the company will not abandon this idea, and every year it will improve it, releasing more and more applications adapted for the DeX platform.
I tested it - I tell you. ( spoiler: it's the bomb!)
Just imagine that you wake up in the morning, wash your face, have breakfast, and when you are going to work you take your keys and a smartphone.
Oh yes, you still need to drag notebook- there is work, documents, all your office life.
And this is where Samsung enters the scene and did a very cool thing. Thanks to her, very soon you will not need to carry a laptop with you every day, to or from work.
In this review, I will tell you how a smartphone turns into a full-fledged computer.
This is Samsung. And he does magic
The small round accessory is called the Samsung Dex. This is a special docking station to which you need to connect a keyboard, mouse, monitor.
And insert your Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8 plus.
Thus, an almost full-fledged desktop of a desktop computer is displayed on the monitor screen, with the usual shortcuts like "Explorer", with a button "a la Start" and other interface elements dear to the heart of any office worker.
All applications installed on the smartphone are displayed in the list of programs, they can be launched and used. True, many do not stretch to fit the entire monitor screen, and work in the "windowed" mode.
So, you won't be able to play World of Tanks Blitz with a keyboard and mouse.
However, the entire Microsoft office suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, as well as Photoshop Lightroom for Android smartphones, has already been adapted to work in "desktop" mode.
Thanks to the built-in file manager, you can create folders, store documents, and create presentations and tables. Edit photos and chat in all mobile messengers.
Amazing in Korean? - Yes!
The ease with which your smartphone turns into a full-fledged PC is mesmerizing. Seems. here it is - the future! However, the idea of some kind of adapter that turns a smartphone into a full-fledged workstation is far from new.
Both Microsoft and Motorola made their own versions of such an accessory, but they did not gain popularity. There were several reasons for this.:
1. Lack of applications that are convenient to use in desktop mode
2. Deficiency of the accessory itself - almost no one saw them on free sale
Yes, and the very thought of replacing the usual desktop computer some small box was blasphemous.
But today Samsung has every chance of becoming the first company to really take a step towards the post-computer era, and is introducing the idea that a smartphone and there is a computer.
And that's why:
1. Dex is easy to buy
2. The accessory costs about 10,000 rubles
3. It is convenient for them to use
4. There are already about 20 adapted applications
5. The accessory looks stylish
It is clear that 20 applications are not enough, but the very fact that in the company store Samsung apps Apps already has a dedicated section with applications for Dex, so we hope that the number of programs and games will increase.
Small accessory with great possibilities
Despite its small size, Dex is equipped with 2 USB ports, one HDMI, one Ethernet port and one USB-C, which is exclusively for powering Dex and the smartphone in it.
Peripherals can be connected to the USB ports - mice, keyboards, printers. Everything works right away, you don't need to search for and install any drivers.
And you can use wireless mice and keyboards - connect them to Samsung Galaxy S8 and use unused USB ports on Dex'e for flash drives, card readers and other things.
The Screen mirroring mode is interesting, when the usual smartphone desktop is displayed on the monitor screen. You can switch between this and the "desktop" mode on the fly.
If you wish, you can even connect a wired Internet or connect several Dex's to local area network... But by default, enabling Dex with installed by Samsung Galaxy S8, you can easily go online using Mobile Internet... After all, you have a SIM card in your smartphone, right?
An interesting feature: if you download a "heavy" file or archive, Dex automatically launches a kind of "download acceleration", and the download speed through the mobile network can reach up to 150 Mbps.
How to call? - Easily!
Yes, during an incoming call, a pop-up notification appears on the monitor screen. You can answer or drop the call.
If you start a conversation, it will turn on by default. Speakerphone on your smartphone, but if you are sitting in wireless headphones- the conversation will be more private.
You can also use Skype, and even make video calls using front camera smartphone. Even after 10 minutes of video calling, the Samsung Galaxy S8 barely warmed up. This is given that in addition to running Skype, a browser with 10 tabs and Word were opened.
After a whole day of testing, I did not notice any slowdowns or freezes. The system works smartly, the smartphone and Dex do not heat up and general impression the most pleasant thing from work.
Everything is cool, but ... Any questions
Putting emotions aside and evaluating Dex with a sober and practical eye, 2 questions arise.
Question number 1. Who is this accessory for?
To use Dex, you need Samsung smartphone S8 or S8 plus. Also, you need a keyboard, mouse, and of course a monitor. It's hard for me to believe that someone has all this at home, but there is no system unit.
Rather, this accessory is aimed at corporate use, but small companies are unlikely to buy their employees a brand new flagship and throw out stationary PCs.
And large corporations will not switch to Dex because of their security policies - this is additional money, time and headache.
Question number 2. Application base
As the experience of previous manufacturers of such accessories shows, a gadget without software very quickly losing popularity. Yes, an office suite is good, but I would like to see more specialized applications for designers, programmers, some terminal applications, maybe games.
If Samsung will do its best to encourage and promote the development of programs and games for Dex, it will be great. The target audience will increase and the accessory will become popular.
Wait and see.
My experience: cool, but not for everyone
Of course, Dex cannot replace everything overnight. stationary computers... Designers, developers and programmers cannot do without a powerful PC and widescreen monitor.
But for everyone who works in the office - draws up reports, makes tables and other office affairs - Dex in conjunction with the Samsung Galaxy S8 can easily replace a bulky PC.
I'm sure the CEOs of many companies have already received beautiful flyers praising this accessory. Perhaps in a few years system blocks it will be out of fashion in the office, and Dex's will be on the employees' tables.
Or maybe not.
In general, Dex in conjunction with the Galaxy S8 is convenient: your smartphone is always with you and you can communicate, send and receive mail and edit texts anywhere. And when you come to work, you just insert your smartphone into Dex and continue working, only on a large monitor and in a user-friendly interface.
Anyway, Samsung is great for promoting its ecosystem, unlike Apple stuck in 2014. Mega-stylish, bezel-less Galaxy S8, wireless charging and now Dex.
The dream of turning a smartphone into a full-fledged computer arose a long time ago, but something always stood in the way of its realization. Motorola can rightfully be considered the pioneer of this direction; the engineers of this company tried to turn a smartphone into a computer back in the 90s, but every time something prevented them from creating a product that would be approved by marketers. In 2010, when the ATRIX model was created, a docking station for connecting to an external monitor via HDMI was released for it, as well as a laptop dock, a kind of brainless laptop in which memory and brains were in the phone itself.
Marketers won once again, since these devices were in demand only among geeks, the mass consumer did not understand why he needed to buy these accessories if the resulting "computer" was weak enough and did not support the usual programs. Over the past five years, almost a dozen companies have researched the possibility of creating such accessories and each time they stumbled upon the fact that buyers could not understand what it was and why. The most successful attempt was the introduction of a docking station from Microsoft, with its help a Windows smartphone was connected to a monitor and allowed to work with documents. At the same time, the success was relative, as a percentage of sold Windows smartphones, of which there were always few, and therefore this experience passed by the mass market, it was simply not noticed.
At the same time, the stars converged so that Microsoft stopped active support of its platform for smartphones and other mobile devices, but felt that they needed a presence on the Android platform with the main programs, for example, MS Office, OneDrive, Skype. Samsung has become a key partner for the promotion of these programs, these applications have appeared on almost all devices of the company. Somehow it turns out by itself that Microsoft wants to turn smartphones into full-fledged computers, Samsung has a similar project, but it stalls, since marketers defeat engineers, as was the case at Motorola before. According to marketers, the market is not ready yet, there are many restrictions for such devices. But Microsoft believes that the time has come, and are ready to adapt MS Office for Android operating in computer mode. And Samsung considered that this was enough to give the project the green light and create an accessory that would turn the company's flagship into a full-fledged computer, albeit with a number of reservations. This is how the DeX docking station was born, which can already be called the most successful product in this category, since it sells like hot cakes and the company simply does not have time to produce them.
The idea behind the DeX docking station is simple and straightforward: you connect to the station peripherals and you can use a large monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, external drive and much more with your phone. Let's see how it works together.
We connect the DeX-station to the phone, the first setting
The small box contains a docking station and nothing else, but to connect to a monitor or TV, you need a regular HDMI cable, you will need to buy it separately. There will be no problem with this, such cables are sold in most stores.
The docking station is large enough, it has a sliding cover that hides a USB Type C connector, here we install a smartphone, in this moment only supported by Galaxy S8 / S8 +, new Note will be added later.
The station is powered through the usual Charger that comes with your phone, there is a USB Type C connector on the case. The docking station has its own cooling, a built-in fan, it is impossible to call it noisy, even with the most active mode of using the phone, you cannot hear it at all. Cooling is important, as in some modes the phone may heat up, but overheating is excluded here.
There are two full-fledged USB connectors on the case (USB 2.0), you can connect any peripherals to them, for example, a keyboard, mouse or flash drive, as well as HDD... As a rule, there is enough food for everyone portable device which usually works with a laptop or similar technique. An HDMI connector is needed to connect the docking station to a monitor or TV, and there is no need for any special settings, the phone automatically detects the type of monitor. Unfortunately, there is one problem here - old monitors with 4: 3 geometry will work, but the picture is optimized for widescreen displays and TV, as a result, it does not look very good on older devices.
When connecting for the first time, a picture is displayed on the screen, which shows the corners of the image, you can adjust them yourself. On all my TVs and monitors, the picture was initially displayed correctly.
When the phone is installed in the docking station, it automatically starts charging, but the picture on the screen turns off, the DeX mode starts working. You can also select the mode of mirroring the picture from the smartphone screen, then the DeX mode, respectively, will not be available. This is an old, well-known mode, so I will not dwell on it in detail, especially since all Samsung smart TVs support such a Wi-Fi connection of smartphones.
Unfortunately, the connectors on the docking station are located in a semicircle, which is convenient for connecting peripherals, but wires take up a lot of space on the table.
In practice, you can connect wireless keyboard to the docking station (you need to install a USB dongle from the keyboard into one of the connectors) or connect the keyboard directly to the phone via Bluetooth. I like the second option much more, since no wires are required and everything works exactly the same.
In terms of the accessories that are supported, I will say that these are almost all mice, keyboards, hard drives etc. You can connect a printer directly to the station, but why? It's easier to set up printing via Android drivers, most modern models support this option, everything is set up that way for me.
There is also an Ethernet connector on the case, that is, you can connect the docking station to the network directly, this will be valuable for corporate clients, this option is important for them, but less interesting for home use.
Getting Started with DeX Station - Familiar Programs on the Monitor
The interface device on the monitor or TV in front of you is very similar to Windows, you have a status bar at the bottom, in which application shortcuts are located, on the right side there are status icons, for example, battery power, an icon for screenshots, a network signal, and more. On the desktop, you can create your own icons, which is extremely convenient.
It is necessary to understand that the interface has been redesigned for a computer, but we still have the same familiar Android. For example, you can have an unlimited number of open windows, but only those on the screen remain active, the rest are recalled from memory, they "freeze" in the state in which they were. So don't be surprised at these multitasking capabilities.
On the screen, you can open several applications at the same time and work in them at the same time. It is important what is possible from file manager drag and drop the file into the mail or vice versa, many standard applications support this possibility.
This makes DeX-mode very similar to a regular computer, there is no addiction as such, you will instantly know what to do and how.
In the menu you can see applications that work in DeX-mode, that's almost all Android programs but there are exceptions. So, you can launch toys, but most likely you won't be able to play, for example, Clash of Clans didn't work with my mouse, but Infinitode works great. But playing games with a mouse is somehow completely inconvenient, although there was a time when we had no other options and it seemed the only possibility.
All your files are stored in the phone's memory; for insurance, you can also enable their storage in the cloud. Considering that we have an Android smartphone, and even a flagship, it can do almost everything that ordinary computers are trained to do. Want to watch a video? No question - you can launch any file and enjoy it on the big screen. I had such an experience - I put the Expanse series for children on a TV with a DeX station connected, and I myself listened to a podcast from the same phone on wireless headphones (outputting two audio streams at the same time is a great thing in S8 / S8 +). Moreover, during a call, the phone understands that it needs to be sent to the headset, and not to the TV, and this is very captivating.
Oddly enough, in DeX I am attracted by the ability to quickly search through SMS, messenger messages, mail and other sections, which I consider primordially telephone, of the same call list. Everything is in front of you in a convenient form, any information can be copied, by the way, all keyboard shortcuts work fine in this mode (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V and others).
You can use MS Office to work if you are committed to this program, but you need a subscription to Ms Office 365. The whole package is adapted for this mode of operation, these are full-fledged programs, they are better than the regular version for Android. I could not find any difference from a Windows laptop, everything is exactly the same. The same files are opened, saved in the cloud from MS, in a word, work - I don't want to. And this is not only reading, but also editing, for example, presentations.
For those who do not want to buy a subscription to MS Office, you can print texts in the native Samsung application, it has text formatting, minimal text editor capabilities. It is convenient for small texts, but hardly suitable for the same work of creating a book. It is quite suitable for writing this text, there is no problem here.
I put off acquaintance with the DeX station for a long time, as everything worked at the presentation unhurriedly, if not slowly. I don’t know what was the reason, but in real life everything is very, very fast. Moreover, you will not notice any brakes even when working with heavy, large documents. And this is surprising if you remember that the phone is processing documents, not the computer.
And another surprising discovery for me was that the first two hours with DeX were spent on the fact that I tried to work in different applications in the hope that they would not work at all. But this did not happen.
For the desktop, you can set your own wallpaper (specifically for the DeX mode). There are not so many phone settings, this is the speed of the mouse, and nothing more.
Use cases - who needs a DeX station
The fact that a modern flagship can run most programs and adapts them to big screen, there is nothing surprising. It is important to think about what scenarios, previously unavailable, can be implemented by such a bundle. For me, this is a scenario of a workplace in a second apartment, where I don't want to drag my computer with me. I came in, connected the phone, and everything is ready - you start working with your files, especially since most of my work files are in the cloud. I am sure that for someone such a scenario will look attractive, and here the DeX station is struggling with Chromebooks, which can be bought for $ 100-300 in the United States. Why with Chromebooks? Yes, because they are rather weak, have little memory, but they work with the cloud and have a large screen. They have a comfortable keyboard and no need to buy an external monitor. And for DeX such a monitor is needed, another thing is that your TV can become it.
For corporate users, the DeX station is just a godsend, especially in companies where Samsung flagships are bought for employees. You can create workplace anywhere, and given that the virtual desktop for Windows is supported, you can also work with all your familiar documents elsewhere (equally, you only need to connect to the network to launch all your Windows programs from the desktop that are on your regular PC). In Europe, several large companies have already appreciated this accessory, as it saves them money and time spent on maintaining conventional networks. But here you need to understand that these are still pioneers, it is too early to talk about the massive implementation of such solutions.
My experience with the DeX station suggests that it has a couple of downsides. For example, if at some point you forget that you have a phone in front of you, and you are guaranteed to forget, then you start keeping a player with a movie, large documents and 30-40 bookmarks in Chrome open in your memory. There is no slowdown in the operation of the interface, but the battery does not have time to charge, the charge freezes at the same point. Therefore, if you want the phone to charge, minimize all applications from the desktop, then their system "freezes", they do not waste energy.
Unfortunately, it is inconvenient to take such a station with you on trips, because, in addition to DeX, you will need an HDMI cable, a keyboard, a mouse, and all this takes up a lot of space, it is easier to take a laptop with you.
For example, I use a Samsung wireless keyboard with the S8 + when traveling, but it is a compromise for me, since it is inconvenient due to the size. And with DeX you want something big, the right size. Hence the conclusion: when traveling, DeX is inconvenient, it is still a stationary solution.
Issue price and conclusions
A dozen of such docking stations passed through my hands, but it was always a compromise, here it is also present, after all, this is not a full-fledged computer, and the same 1C can only be launched on a virtual desktop, and not in a regular program (although the client for Android is quite working). Unlike other devices, this one has an undoubted advantage, the interface is fast, responsive, and the adaptation of a number of programs, including MS Office, makes DeX unique in many ways, there are no analogues (not counting its own docking station from Microsoft and de facto dead Windows platforms Phone).
The price of DeX in Russia is 9,990 rubles (in the US $ 150 plus taxes, in Europe it can be found for 125 euros). Expensive? Perhaps. But for those who need just such functionality and have already come up with an application scenario for the docking station, there are simply no analogues. What really surprised me is that many people buy DeX just as a docking station for charging a smartphone, they say it's beautiful and have been waiting for this for a long time. Why not buy wireless charging and not save? The appearance is similar, the charging issue has been resolved.
The fact that such devices are the future, I am sure, the only question is when this future will become massive. DeX sales prove it's just around the corner. The production of this accessory is noticeably more than planned, the plant is 100% loaded, and this is amazing. Can someone explain what the Europeans liked so much in this accessory?