[criddell]

I don't know what DeX is, but if by thin client you mean the computer is somewhere else then I would say that doesn't sound like Apple at all. Apple is the last company that seems to still believe in personal computers on the desk.

[pmx]

I think they're using the term thin client incorrectly in the article. While it obviously means a low power terminal that connects to a remote server, they're using it to mean compute that you carry around and connect it to any monitor and input devices that you happen across. Dex is samsung's implementation of this and it works very well indeed.

[rffn]

Yes, I was using the term thin client as they did in the article. DeX actually tries to make the phone the only computer one needs. Just connect a screen and either use the phone as keyboard/mouse or connect a physical device.

This might be even more interesting with Samsung TVs which allow wireless DeX. Have not seen this in action though.

[jabroni_salad]

DeX lets you connect your phone to a docking station. You get a fairly basic windowed desktop experience.

I actually use it to run citrix receiver and connect to the corporate network. hardly ever bring my work laptop home anymore.

[criddell]

Is it way different than using an iPad with an external monitor, keyboard, mouse, disk, midi controller, etc...? Is the key distinction that it's on a phone rather than a tablet?

[bane]

Yes in the sense that it gives you a mouse/keyboard windowed experience instead of a touch-optimized one with a mouse cursor.

You also still get to use the phone/tablet at the same time while it's driving the desktop.

Of course you're still using Android apps, just inside of resizable, movable windows, and not all apps behave well or work as well with mouse/keyboard as you might like.

But you can install linux shells, remote desktop apps, etc, and basically just use it as a thin-client.

There's also a way you can use Dex inside of a window on Windows and it let you drive your phone without actually touching it or doing some weird remote access stuff to your phone.

Dex is kind of a hidden gem of the Samsung devices. Once you hook up a dock with some I/O it's basically just turns your Android device into a desktop computer.

https://youtu.be/0FfH51xgQDU

[jabroni_salad]

In terms of hardware, yes. In terms of software, no. Last time I tried that with an iPad you did not get a true windowed DE. It was okay if you wanted one big app and one sidebar app and a lot of context switching.

[criddell]

For better or worse, iPadOS is moving more in that direction for sure.

https://www.theverge.com/23787477/apple-ipados-17-stage-mana...

[jabroni_salad]

oh nice. Hopefully a few iterations from now it'll be really good. I just chose a Surface as my personal laptop last year because of this making ipad less than a perfect all-rounder.

[pmx]

Dex gives you a "proper" multi-window desktop with things like a start button, task bar, system bar, etc. It's very different to the iPad experience when the iPad is connected to a display and peripherals and much better.