Yes, I realize it's been four years or so since I last updated this. I will be happy to regale you with all the tales of boring day to day details since then. Ready?
Waits to see if everyone has left...
Ok, that got rid of most of you. For the true diehards, here are just some assorted thoughts that 140 characters have not been able to capture:
Samsung Dex. I'm a big fan of the Samsung Galaxy line of phones. The form factor is just right, and the features are bleeding edge. One thing they added a year ago or so was Dex: the ability to see and work with your phone on a desktop. Intriguing, but there were some drawbacks: you needed a special dock, you needed to have a dedicated monitor and keyboard. Wasn't worth it.
Fast forward to a few months ago: Dex is now an App! You can throw it on your PC, connect your phone through USB, and voila: your phone as a desktop. It's surprisingly useful, and really well thought out. For instance, you can pin whatever apps on your phone you want to the desktop, and run them full screen. What I find interesting is that, when I am at a computer, I'm mostly running the same apps as I do on my phone, but I just want larger real estate. Dex kind of takes all of that and negates the need for dedicated Windows apps.
There are some limitations, of course. Can't keep more than 5 apps open at once. Some apps correctly interpret hitting the Return key as "send this message;" some don't. If you keep a Twitter sidebar open so you get a free flow of tweets all day (um....am I the only one that does that. Yikes.), you can't replicate that in Dex. And, annoyingly, every time you click away from Dex to another Windows App, the Dex icon in the Windows taskbar flashes, as if it's trying to get your attention...even though nothing is happening. But these are minor, compared with the vision of really having a universal desktop wherever you go.
So, if you have a Samsung Galaxy or Note 8 or higher, try Dex. You won't be disappointed. Oh, did I mention it's free? 😀
Waits to see if everyone has left...
Ok, that got rid of most of you. For the true diehards, here are just some assorted thoughts that 140 characters have not been able to capture:
Fast forward to a few months ago: Dex is now an App! You can throw it on your PC, connect your phone through USB, and voila: your phone as a desktop. It's surprisingly useful, and really well thought out. For instance, you can pin whatever apps on your phone you want to the desktop, and run them full screen. What I find interesting is that, when I am at a computer, I'm mostly running the same apps as I do on my phone, but I just want larger real estate. Dex kind of takes all of that and negates the need for dedicated Windows apps.
There are some limitations, of course. Can't keep more than 5 apps open at once. Some apps correctly interpret hitting the Return key as "send this message;" some don't. If you keep a Twitter sidebar open so you get a free flow of tweets all day (um....am I the only one that does that. Yikes.), you can't replicate that in Dex. And, annoyingly, every time you click away from Dex to another Windows App, the Dex icon in the Windows taskbar flashes, as if it's trying to get your attention...even though nothing is happening. But these are minor, compared with the vision of really having a universal desktop wherever you go.
So, if you have a Samsung Galaxy or Note 8 or higher, try Dex. You won't be disappointed. Oh, did I mention it's free? 😀
Comments