It’s interesting how some tech product features come and go over time. It’s not the first time we’ve had a dockable phone that converts into a desktop replacement while in it’s dock. We’ve had the Motorola Atrix with it’s dual boot Android and Linux WebTop desktop when inserted into its laptop dock or docking cradle. Motorola’s Lapdock also supported a number of other Android phones that had the same capability (include the Droid Bionic, Droid Razr).
More recently, Microsoft’s Lumia 950 with Window Mobile’s Continuum feature tried to bring us the promise of a mobile Windows device that you could dock while not on the go to provide a Windows desktop experience from the same device.
Today’s Samsung Unpacked 2017 event introduced the expected S8 and S8+. It’s an incredibly attractive new flagship device that is most likely going to sell like hotcakes, despite even the disaster that was the Note 7. The curious wildcard feature though is a new feature called DeX that allows you to dock your phone into a docking cradle and use it as a desktop.
Given the lacklustre interest in this capability in previous products so far, what makes Samsung think that this is going to capture our interest now? Or as Engadget asks, “Does anyone want to use a phone as a desktop?”
