Android desktop mode beta, or Chromebook in your pocket

I enrolled on the Android Beta and am typing this on my phone plugged into a USB-C dongle that provides HDMI and USB.

The idea is it’s supposed to turn your phone into a portable “real” computer.

I think it needs some work, it’s a bit unstable. The idea is there, and it works very similarly to a Chromebook, just they don’t quite know what to do with the phone’s screen. Interacting with that really confuses everything.

Also apps are completely unaware of what’s going on. Trying to use Firefox is … interesting.

I had to take this “screenshot” with my phone’s camera, because I couldn’t find any other way. Pressing Print Screen on the keyboard took a screenshot of the phone’s display.

Also sometimes the phone’s display got confused with what it was trying to show

No idea what’s going on here, but I’m fairly sure apps in windows are not supposed to appear on the phone. Pressing the “X” in the window makes the entire phone close all apps and lock itself.

Maybe it’ll turn into something good, and in a few years time I bin my Chromebook, or Google will silently kill it off by December. The concept is good, but I don’t really have random monitors, keyboards and mice lying around waiting for something to plug into them. I have computers, or a laptop.

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