Remember the Motorola Atrix in 2011 with its Webtop mode?

One of the rumors about Samsung’s upcoming S8 is that they are going to introduce a desktop mode supporting an external monitor and keyboard/mouse.

Not so long ago Microsoft were trying to convince us about Continuum and how we’d all be plugging our phones into desktop monitors and keyboards.

Let’s not forget that Microsoft was not the first to try this – several years before Continuum, Motorola tried out something similar on their Atrix phone back in 2011 (and a number of Motorola phones that followed?) where it supported a dual boot mode that could be booted into a Ubuntu Linux based desktop mode when connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Motorola apparently discontinued the feature because base features in Android starting supporting HDMI and attaching USB devices such as USB external drives, keyboards, mice etc to your phone via a USB OTG connector. Not many people are aware that your Android phone may already support connecting to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, if you so want to. Take a look on the box or in your manual for the ‘USB on-the-go’ logo and you might have these features already.