This has been hidden in developer options for a while now, but they’re now releasing it officially. Limited to Pixel 8 and newer devices and no 4k yet.
That’s cool… I guess…
What I really want is to continue to use F-Droid though.
Install Graphene OS on your Pixel.
I’m not giving Google anymore money. I’m actively going to vote for their competitor, Motorola+GrapheneOS.
(Not buying used Pixel.)
I understood OP already has one.
Motorola, yes, but that’s 2027, or thereabouts. As a stop-gap, there’s Lineage OS.
This doesn’t stop the drastic drop in popularity (and potentially development) of FOSS apps.
Lack of users means lack of donations.
We need to stop this BS instead of just trying to get a workaround.
There is no workaround for proprietary platforms other than stopping using them.
Why say “Your Pixel can now…” when my Pixel can’t? Why not say “Pixel 8 and newer devices can now…”.
JTskulk, it is only your Pixel that can not. It works for older Pixels as well, but they specifically tied a few kill switches to your commonly known geo-locations and anyone who ties their shoelaces in a fashion deemed less mertiable.
I knew it!
Yeah meanwhile I was over in the corner trying to figure out how all my laces are tangled in the Velcro of my roller blades. I swear whoever designed Velcro and laces to exist on the same contraption was just trying to be a dick
LOL, sorry bud, but it’s only YOUR laces that get caught in Velcro. Other people’s laces are Velcro-resistant. Your rollerblade manufacturer is just fucking with you.
damn, I knew there was an alterior motive to the knee pads, no one liked those things.
Jokes on them, I wear velcro shoes!
their shoelaces in a fashion deemed less mertiable
Ian Knot ftw. Can’t beat it.
I have to deduct a merit for myself, as I now see I spelled meritable with a typo.
lol, love you 😄
i hope it comes to graphene os
Its already available in developer settings on grapheneos I use it daily
Samsung has been doing this with Dex for many years ffs.
Yes. And now it’s native in all android! Samsung helped make it!
It’s good when things get better.
It’s good to have a non-vendor specific solution. Although samsung has switched to this and has lost some features for the time being, it should be a benefit long term.
Since I have to carry a keyboard anyway, I’m just going to carry a full laptop instead.
The point is that you can use your personal device instead of a secondary machine. Everything is in one spot: your local files, workspaces, sessions and settings.
I like the idea of leaving one keyboard on my desk at home and one at the office and just carry my work in my pocket.
Yeah I thought this was cool and having been trying it for a year because I used to travel a lot for work. But I realized carrying my portable monitor and keyboard wasn’t much different from carrying my Surface. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like it’s less useful than it seems.
Maybe to turn a refurbed pixel into a hole server?
From what I’ve experienced, it’s just running android apps on a desktop aesthetic so you get your free floating windows but it’s still all android. That’s why I’m not sure if using your pixel as a server or any kind is viable. Sorry, I’m not technical enough.
What is an android PC? Is that like a boat car?
All phones are PCs, this is just connecting external displays.
The shock is that it couldn’t already.
Mobile devices tend to be much less versatile than PCs, mind you, and on purpose, due to one of Steve Jobs’ most misguided apprehensions, that it’d be a good idea to hide the filesystem from the user. (Cue someone somehow claiming that’s Good Actually in three, two, one…)
Hiding the file system is Good Actually because…
Tap for spoiler
Nope, can’t come up with a single reason. It’s fucking terrible.
It’s more than just that, it’s too slow a desktop OS like environment that’s more suited for mouse and keyboard too. It’s not just your phone screen on a bigger screen.
I guess the point is that phone hardware has been powerful enough to do it for a while. It’s surprising that no big companies other than Samsung really put any effort into making it work software wise.
Nah it’s more like a toaster fridge
A PC where I can’t install what I want? WTF is the point of that bullshit.
Thanks but I’ll stick to my steam deck for my portable Linux computing needs where I can do what the hell I want.
I guess we’ll see how that goes come September timeframe.
I’m sure it’ll go pretty well on GrapheneOS
Not sure why everyone seems to think GrapheneOS is going to be immune and unaffected by Google actively trying to fuck AOSP to death.
We’ll see what happens long term but they will be unaffected by the September changes.
Because now they have OEM support.
Oh good, so when AOSP is dead in the water, at least GrapheneOS can release hardware without an OS on it?
I guess there is logic to it, the most secure mobile device you can have is none…
It isn’t dead in the water. Google reversed that decision and also I believe part of a lawsuit against google before said it had to maintain the AOSP.
Imagine what the world could be if we had repairable Arch Linux Phones that can go full desktop mode just like the pixel rn. Aaahhh that turns me on!🤤
Arch user btw
I would definitely not carry my main computer around with me everywhere. Lose/brake/get is stolen and you’re seriously fucked. Too much risk. And if it’s not my main computer why would I connect to screens and peripherals?
I’ve bought 1920x1200 IPS screen from temu. It is small, runs off the phone (if you want) power and works brilliantly. I’m using Windows RDP to use my desktop anywhere I want in the house. Works great for a few month, I had lower resolution for a couple updates, but the current version running on Android 17 Beta2 works just fine, at full resolution.
Could you link the screen from temu?
There is no such thing as an Android PC.
Now there is
No, it’s a phone with a monitor and keyboard. As far as I’m concerned a Chromebook is also not a PC, it’s a phone that’s shaped like a laptop.
That’s certainly an opinion.
I consider my phone to be a PC, and my work phone not to be, because one is clearly a personal computer, and the other a work computer.
brb… need to go send an email from the WC
A Chromebook has literally no phone related functionality. No SMS or calling.
Sorry, I was being snarky. What I meant was that a computer running Android (or iOS) can’t really be counted as a PC, in the sense that Google (or Apple) control what you do with it.
last thing I want is an android pc. well maybe not the last but nope
I found these kind of features really useful. I had to submit some documents that I needed to do some work on before they got sent off. Everything was local, and with a keyboard/monitor/mouse I could have a browser, my email, and the document I was editing on the screen at the same time. So much faster typing and clicking.
I use my Steamdeck for that more often now if I just want a desktop while i am traveling if I don’t want to bring the laptop. I just mount the phone as a folder, so even that is easy.
I mean I get it kinda. I just have never really went for the smartphone thing. The laptop is basically my end all be all of technology. I too though love my steamdeck. I actually bought it as kinda of indulgence that I justified with the idea it would become my new laptop but I really like having gaming on a different device and just not worrying about it on my laptop.
It didn’t already do this? Why did I have phones and tablets that could do this already?
Google, a decade late to the party.
I had video out via MHL back in like 2013 and a usable desktop environment on an HTC M7 or something like that. Haven’t had a phone that could do anything similar since, and it’s kind of wild with how much more powerful phones are these days that desktop modes aren’t more common. I would love to not have to carry a laptop around when my phone is more than powerful enough for what I do for work.
Yes, although it will be a full ANDROID PC.
Your Pixel
Limited to Pixel 8 and newer devices and no 4k yet.
Oh, so your Pixel, but not my Pixel.
Yep. Pixel 7P over here really bummed that this isn’t available because of poor choices Google made at the hardware level on this phone.
Let’s be clear, for a feature that Samsung phones have had for a decade at this point.
This feature debuted on the Moto Atrix in 2011. There was even a version of Ubuntu that could use the feature.
They sure did have a version of it. But you had to run their privacy nightmare app suite on their mutilated android OS. So no one cared or cares.
sad pixel 5 noises
I’ve been waiting for a camera bump free upgrade, the 10a might be it but I’m reluctant to continue up the phone size escalator.
My guy if you use that phone for anything remotely sensitive you should get a new one. It hasn’t received security updates in over 2 years. The 8a is about $200 refurbished with 6 more years of updates and you won’t notice the bump if you use a case.
I don’t use a case and I use Lineage. I’m not really concerned. I already need to crop the top of the screen in developer settings just so that I can reach the notification bar, I’m not really enthusiastic about getting something even bigger.
I’m not sure if lineage has this option, but on my Pixel 8, at least, there’s an option in system -> gestures called One-handed mode. If you use gesture navigation, it lets you swipe down on the navigation bar to either drag the top of the screen into reach or open the notification drawer. You can also map it to the accessibility button (and put it in the navigation bar) if you use the 3-button navigation.
I’m sure you’re content with your solution, but I just wanted to throw this out here in case you wanted to try something new. .
Yeah I’ve tried those but it seems like such a hack. Weirdly, the one handed “pull screen into reach” doesn’t allow you to swipe down across the notifications bar to open notifications, in that mode it only registers swipes that start from below the notifications bar. And the floating button gets a little unwieldy since it overlaps with the volume popup. And in the “show notifications” mode, the button opens notifications but doesn’t let you close them (once you press it twice for the “control center” it no longer does anything)
Not to mention it doesn’t really help with the phone itself being uncomfortable to hold. I’m trying my best to vote with my wallet, but that has meant sticking with a Pixel 2 up until a few years ago, and the Pixel 5 was my “only 2mm taller” compromise - I completely overlooked the fact that the Pixel 2 screen starts like 1cm from the top while the Pixel 5 screen starts nearly at the top. The Pixel 10a is almost 10mm taller, so I’m not sure if I’ll be sold on it.
I actually bought a OnePlus 6 something (t?) at one point fully intending to give in to a bigger screen but I hated it and returned it.
If you’re still making use of play store apps, I quite like Quick Cursor. I’m on a Pixel 8 Pro and I miss my 3A.
Yeah, I have a pixel 7 and was disappointed on vacation to learn that its USB-C port can’t do video when I wanted to plug it into a hotel room TV.
I don’t get why this is a Pixel thing at all and not an Android thing though. Shouldn’t any Android OS device that can do full video output over USB-C be able to do this?
I am confused.
In developer options in basic android you can simply enable the feature right?
My old Sony xperia 5 ii can do that and it definitely isn’t a Sony feature…
There’s hardware required to shunt the display out the USB port and since it’s not a super in demand feature they usually don’t implement it. As such the software for looking nice while doing it isn’t as developed.
But yes, it’s been in developer settings for years, and was usable if your hardware supported it.
Shouldn’t any Android OS device that can do full video output over USB-C be able to do this?
It will eventually. Pixels are usually the first ones to get everything because they are first-party devices.
Video out is frustratingly uncommon. Samsung, some Sony’s, and only very recently Pixels. Google was vocally against video out for a long time. And SD cards (gotta pay for drive). You were expected to roll the dice with whether Chromecast works with a random TV and wifi combination.
Pixels were popular for two reasons: the camera and “basic black rectangle” device (RIP Nexus).
Yeah, Chromecast has been kind of a disaster for Google imho, in that it never got widespread adoption in TVs. If they’d pushed an open standard they might’ve been able to get that over the finish-line and get buy-in from 3rd parties. But instead every smart TV and smart phone has its own video streaming approach, it seems.
The LG V20 had it all, still miss daily driving that phone
I had the Nexus 6 and then moved to the V30. Both of those phones were awesome and I still miss them.
Not all USB-C are equal. They can add or remove features as they please
Right but I’m specifically referring to devices where their USB-C port is capable of full video out.
It’s supposed to be for Android 16 kn general once the feature is fully baked
Our Pixel ⚒️🎵
The 4 (iirc) also had USBC video out but google removed that functionality only to now have a reason to sell you a new phone. I hope its actually good and they publish source for it as part of AOSP, otherwise this news is fucking useless.
There were stability issues with the video out. People love to assume malice but most of the time there was actually good reasons
Thats nonsense, there are plenty of phones and tablets with usbc video output. Its been a feature for like a decade. Other companies have had working desktop modes for a long time and google just abandoned their work on it until they decided they could use it as a marketing feature. They probably just didnt want the pixel to cut into the chromebook marketshare.
this has been well covered by now. just cause it works in product x, doesn’t mean it was implemented correctly in product y
deleted by creator
