[HN Gopher] Desktop Windowing on Android Tablets
___________________________________________________________________
Desktop Windowing on Android Tablets
Author : tosh
Score : 119 points
Date : 2024-09-22 19:00 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (android-developers.googleblog.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (android-developers.googleblog.com)
| exe34 wrote:
| wow what a revolutionary idea!
| jjice wrote:
| I'm a full desktop OS kind of person, but even just enabling
| windowing on a tablet OS makes it feel like so much more of a
| full OS. The idea of having your browser and a notes app in a
| configuration that isn't a forced hard split is a massive win.
| justmarc wrote:
| There is quite simply an incredible amount of productivity that
| can be extracted from a speedy, full sized laptop or desktop
| that smaller screen devices are not likely to reach no matter
| what fancy features they come up with.
|
| What I can do in seconds on a fast, responsive, non-bogged down
| modern laptop can take orders of magnitude longer to accomplish
| on a tablet. Tablets surely have their uses, but high paced
| productivity is not one of them.
| analog31 wrote:
| My spouse and I recently got identical Lenovo tablets. I got mine
| for reading sheet music, but of course can't pass up the chance
| to see how close it gets to being a laptop replacement. It's the
| first device that was close enough to leave my laptop at home on
| a recent trip... and travel 2 pounds lighter.
|
| Don't know if it's unique to Lenovo or part of Android in
| general, but these tablets do support the windowing feature. It's
| Android 13.
| tredre3 wrote:
| > Don't know if it's unique to Lenovo or part of Android in
| general
|
| So-called Productivity Mode is a Lenovo thing and I agree it's
| actually decent. I know that Android has some windowing support
| built-in but it's basically unusable (hence why this
| announcement is good news).
| mattlondon wrote:
| You've always been able to do split screen (i.e. 50/50, 25/75
| etc but not floating windows) even on phones, FWIW.
| wongarsu wrote:
| Lenovo tablets have split screen, floating windows over
| fullscreen applications, and the option to put all
| applications into windows kind of like in the post.
|
| Though admittedly split screen is the most useful of those
| KeplerBoy wrote:
| Always is a bit of a stretch. The split screen feature came
| with Android 7 in 2016.
| kmarc wrote:
| Wait until you try Samsung's Dex. It could replace my Linux
| laptop, with my tmux/vim dot files environment
| mschuster91 wrote:
| Now if DeX would actually be _performant_... unfortunately
| Samsung just loves putting dogshit SoCs and flash into
| anything that is _not_ the Galaxy Phone lineup, not to
| mention their own pre-installed bloatware and general Android
| bloatification causing further performance issues.
| criddell wrote:
| > Now if DeX would actually be performant
|
| Well, that all depends on what you were expecting. It works
| about as well as I figured it would (including the pre-
| installed bloatware), so in my eyes, it's performant.
| tomcam wrote:
| How big are the tablets? For me only the 13" iPad works because
| it's my only option for full size. But my eyesight is
| defective.
| analog31 wrote:
| Ours are 11 inch. To make matters worse, the aspect ratio is
| 5:3, meaning that typical sheet music (based on 8.5x11 paper)
| uses only part of the screen.
|
| I'm a jazz bassist, so I'm mostly reading chord symbols when
| not just playing from memory. Having the sheets on stage lets
| me consult rehearsal markings and jog my memory as needed.
| Sometimes it stays in my bag, or at the edge of the stage,
| until I need it.
|
| The one band I play in that has more complicated charts is
| entirely paper based, and will be for the foreseeable future.
| My kids both play classical, and they have 13" iPads --
| there's pretty much no avoiding it nowadays. But after
| shelling out for them, I decided that I didn't need that much
| technology.
| tomcam wrote:
| Thanks for the reply.
|
| I don't understand the downvotes. I am always baffled when
| statements are downvoted.
| analog31 wrote:
| Probably for being a jazz bassist. I'll just threaten to
| play a solo if they downvote me again. ;-)
| ntac wrote:
| I did the same thing - replaced my laptop with a tablet for a
| trip. Lenovo P12. It I thought the windowing was great.
|
| The whole experience would have been great, except for one
| thing which made it unusable for my purposes. Android has that
| clipboard editor popup that can't be disabled. When using Emacs
| within Termux, every time I hit ctrl-k, I got that damn popup
| which blocked a significant amount of the screen for ~10
| seconds.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| I hope that this works on foldable phones, as well.
| nishant098 wrote:
| Its phone hack
| idle_zealot wrote:
| What a disappointment. They had freeform mode as a dev option for
| years, but avoided pushing it as a supported feature. I assumed
| this was because it _fucking sucked_. I 've tried it. Freeform,
| desktop-like windows on an 11 inch tablet are simply terrible for
| multitasking. But no, here they are, releasing the feature with
| no meaningful changes. The state of tablet multitasking is a
| travesty, but neither Google nor Apple seem interested in fixing
| it in any way other than a shitty reproduction of clunky desktop
| windowing. How about letting us tile more than two windows
| together? How about letting us stack apps into tabbed panes? How
| about a sliding environment like PaperWM? Just off the top of my
| head, any one of those is more likely to increase tablet
| productivity than "here's a bunch of rectangles; you wrangle
| them!"
| gedy wrote:
| Sure, but I'm one of the kooks who will plug a tablet into a
| monitor and use keyboard and mouse. Seems handy for that.
| idle_zealot wrote:
| Even in that case it's pretty weak. It lacks
| workspaces/spaces that desktop OSes have these days, and
| isn't extensible the way Win/Mac/Linux desktops are.
| tannhaeuser wrote:
| I guess I'm not really understanding what you're
| complaining about. Why not use a desktop OS then in the
| first place? MS Surface Go 11 tablets have been selling for
| like ten years now, and so have "convertibles"/2-in-1's.
| kccqzy wrote:
| I tried out Apple's implementation of desktop windowing on
| tablets called Stage Manager with a borrowed iPad. It's still not
| a real replacement for actual laptops. Sure you get multiple
| windows, but switching between them it still inconvenient: you
| don't have Command-Tab or Command-` like on a Mac. All window
| manipulations have to be done with fingers touching the screen. I
| end up believing a real desktop windowing system is still
| superior.
| marcellus23 wrote:
| Other weaknesses of Stage Manager aside, iPad has command-tab
| and other keyboard shortcuts. You do actually need a keyboard
| attached though -- otherwise, well duh, of course all
| manipulation has to be done with fingers.
| neilalexander wrote:
| Stage Manager is disappointingly over-engineered. Managing the
| workspaces is much more mentally taxing than having windows
| just fade into the background, every new app somehow always
| seems to open up at the wrong size and then annoyingly takes
| everything else off-screen with it. I am a heavy iPad user but
| Stage Manager is rarely useful for me.
| LegitShady wrote:
| I was very disappointed with it as well. doesn't work as well
| as a windows 95 computer window management.
| crooked-v wrote:
| > you don't have Command-Tab
|
| Yes, you do. There's a pretty extensive set of keyboard
| shortcuts, actually.
| rock_artist wrote:
| Android Stage Manager...
|
| I do know similar window managers for Android existed in the past
| and Samsung still got their Dex but making it official
| emphasizing the responsiveness reminded me a lot of stage manager
| which Apple decided to make available only for the expensive
| iPads.
| dekhn wrote:
| Congratulations Android, you've successfully recapitulated the
| evolution to desktop windowing. Took you only 15 years!
| qwertox wrote:
| > If you don't have a Pixel Tablet handy, access the Pixel Tablet
| emulator in Android Studio Preview, and select the Android 15.0
| (Google APIs Tablet) target. Once your device is set up, select
| Enable freeform windows option in Developer options to explore
| the capabilities of desktop windowing and how your app behaves
| within this new environment.
|
| I noticed this last year on Android 13, and I found it a bit
| unusable on an 8.4'' tablet and useless on a phone. But i think
| it has less features in Android 13/14, as the management
| (maximize/restore) looks a bit different on 15.
|
| It still looks like it doesn't have a minimize icon (also not
| when maximized), which for me is essential in a desktop
| environment.
| yonisto wrote:
| Pixel Tablet is the biggest let down I have ever had from a
| product (SW + HW combination) mine has so many bugs, so many
| unnecessary changes from previous versions. I don't understand
| how a company can release such a bad product after so many
| iterations.
| entropie wrote:
| > mine has so many bugs
|
| What bugs? I have mine for like 3 month and its probably the
| best expierence I had on any android device over the last
| dekade. Everything works so well and smooth.
|
| The only thing i critize is that the dock is not USB-C
| powered (so I could relocate it in the kitchen to watch stuff
| while cooking).
| drcode wrote:
| Google in 2057:
|
| "We're excited to announce that Android Tablets now have a
| terminal, with full support of terminal applications like 'ed'
| and 'grep'!"
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| I mean, termux is a thing. Although, having it officially
| supported instead of Google constantly trying to break it would
| be great.
| surajrmal wrote:
| Your wording makes it sound like you think Google out of its
| way to break termux. What makes you believe that? Its
| execution model is at odds with the security model Android
| pushes for so of course it'll come with some challenges. It
| tries to provide an environment suitable for a legacy
| application model that doesn't really take security as
| seriously. The only real way to win here is by using a VM
| which is what ChromeOS did. That allows sufficient isolation
| such that it need not try to force something to work in an
| environment not built for it.
| AshamedCaptain wrote:
| > It tries to provide an environment suitable for a legacy
| application model that doesn't really take security as
| seriously.
|
| Erm... what?
|
| > The only real way to win here is by using a VM which is
| what ChromeOS did.
|
| What advantage would the VM provide, other than the host OS
| having even less insight into what the application is
| doing?
|
| (Which is, by the way, exactly the only reason Android is
| introducing VMs: hiding stuff from the host Android)
| fragmede wrote:
| That's not the reason. The host android has full access
| to the child VMs; the VM can't hide anything from the
| hypervisor. It's about isolation. The child VM can't leak
| your photos or contact list if it doesn't have it in the
| first place, and sticking things into their own VM
| provides an additional layer of isolation beyond what
| exists currently.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| I don't think that's true; my recollection, which appears
| to match https://source.android.com/docs/core/virtualizat
| ion/architec... , is that Android uses hardware support
| to run VMs that even the host kernel can't actually see
| into.
| wiseowise wrote:
| > Your wording makes it sound like you think Google out of
| its way to break termux. What makes you believe that?
|
| They sure as hell don't go out of their way to help keep it
| running.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| On the one hand, no, I don't think there's some whiteboard
| inside Google titled "master plan to make Termux stop
| working". On the other hand... so you know how on iOS,
| Apple has a policy of disallowing apps to have their own
| JIT? It probably _does_ make the system more secure (JIT
| engines are historically a good place to find
| vulnerabilities), but it does so by prohibiting valid
| behavior and preventing entire classes of apps from
| existing. I 'm on Android specifically because I don't
| think that's reasonable, so no, I'm not really cool with
| Google trying to rule out running Linux programs on a Linux
| distro (Android is a weird Linux distro, but it still is
| one). And a VM does help with security, but it also isn't a
| general solution; there are perfectly valid usecases that
| termux can do that a VM would either make needlessly
| difficult (little things like "open files" or "listen on a
| port") or impossible (get a root shell and invoke
| /system/bin/input for automation).
| justmarc wrote:
| "And select models of Android tablet now ship with a built in
| hardware keyboard that is an integral part of the tablet body."
| poisonborz wrote:
| That is called a 2in1 laptop?
| candiddevmike wrote:
| At least they're trying to view the tablet as a multipurpose
| PC, as opposed to Apple who believe such things are abhorrent.
| emsy wrote:
| Imagine the iPad with an actual OS. Unfathomable.
| talldayo wrote:
| We only have to wait for Apple to invent (and appropriately
| price) the technology for a Bootcamp 2. Until then, it
| simply cannot be done.
| freedomben wrote:
| Nobody is asking for that or compatibility with texting
| Android phones. Just buy your mom an iPhone.
| refulgentis wrote:
| Don't read too much into it, it's not about the principle
| insomuch as its about the efficiency of killing off Chrome OS
| to merge it into Android, and a continual game of whac-a-mole
| to woo Samsung execs so they don't put _too_ much investment
| into software. It 'll work about as well as the years of
| efforts to get devs to do apps the Google way in time for the
| Pixel Tablet launch.
| jsheard wrote:
| The fact that newer iPads use the exact same silicon as
| MacBooks is just insult to injury. There's a grown-up
| computer hidden inside but you're not allowed to use it.
| LegitShady wrote:
| I wonder how much of the total BOM on say an ipad pro the
| cpu really is
| gedy wrote:
| Talking off the cuff, it feels to me like Apple is
| trying/tried to hail back to the early days of the Mac
| where there is no hierarchical file system and "files"
| concept is minimized in favor of apps that correspond 1:1
| with a file to edit or view.
|
| I'd say past 40 years proves this model is not what people
| want, but they are so persistent about not doing a normal
| file-focused UI that it feels intentional. Like some
| directive from Steve before he passed.
| andai wrote:
| I love the iPod as a physical object, but it always hurt
| not being able to just put files on it. (Not to even
| mention the "you have to sync and wipe your entire iPod
| library" situation.)
|
| I ended up putting Rockbox on my iPod Classic, which
| makes it be what it actually is: an MP3 player! (Alas the
| UI is not as pleasant, and battery life is worse...)
|
| Similarly I've been so confused about files on my iPhone,
| whereas on Android I never had any confusion (except on
| some newer versions where there's both a Documents folder
| and a Documents "smart view" which are indistinguishable
| except when you realize nothing makes any sense and you
| ended up in the screen that's trying to give you an
| Apple-like files experience for some reason, and then you
| navigate back to the actual file system and are actually
| able to find your files...)
| freedomben wrote:
| I actually disagree, I think the success of the iPhone
| has proven Apple correct that people don't want to deal
| with "files." Personally I despise it, but as iPhones
| have become nearly ubiquitous in the US, I can't help but
| feel the sting of being in a minority group that actually
| wants a general purpose computer rather than an
| "appliance"
| londons_explore wrote:
| If they let you use it, they'd have to triple the price or
| everyone would connect a keyboard and mouse and use it like
| a desktop PC, decimating macbook sales.
|
| I think the limitations are entirely for business strategy
| reasons, not because they believe there is no demand.
| sbarre wrote:
| I've been using a Bluetooth mouse and a keyboard with my
| old 2018 iPad Pro for at least 5 years. It's basically
| our travel computer when we're on vacation.
|
| In older versions of iPadOS (it might even have just been
| iOS back then) you had to enable the mouse under
| Accessibility to make it work, but in current OS versions
| it "just works"..
|
| You can even cmd-tab between apps and a lot of the
| keyboard shortcuts you know and love work in most apps.
| andai wrote:
| A smartphone / tablet is just a computer that's deeply
| ashamed of its true nature, and going to supreme lengths to
| hide it.
| wiseowise wrote:
| Doubt it will ever happen. Not when Android is moving more and
| more towards Apple model.
| mouse_ wrote:
| Impressive work, they reinvented the Chromebook
| tholdem wrote:
| Probably over 90% of what I use my personal laptop for is
| browsing the web, watching videos, listening to music, and
| writing notes. In a general purpose OS, I value security above
| all else. Privacy is a close second, and of course stability,
| ease of use, resource lightness, and application support are also
| important factors.
|
| I haven't found a desktop operating system that ticks most of the
| boxes, especially security and privacy. The only OS that ticks
| all the boxes is GrapheneOS, but it's not really a desktop OS.
| That's why I'm so excited about these updates, and why I wish
| there was either a good keyboard/trackpad case for the Google
| Pixel Tablet running GrapheneOS, or someone would make a laptop
| that had the necessary requirements to support GrapheneOS.
|
| I code on my work laptop, and if I really wanted to, I could
| probably SSH or VNC into a Linux box to code on GrapheneOS. There
| is also pKVM, which will probably make it easy to run Linux VMs
| on GrapheneOS at some point in the future.
| GiorgioG wrote:
| > I haven't found a desktop operating system that ticks most of
| the boxes, especially security and privacy...That's why I'm so
| excited about these updates
|
| Android and privacy are not two things that go together.
| nixosbestos wrote:
| Go on! Substantiate that. From a platform level. Please, I'm
| very curious.
| nixosbestos wrote:
| If I had my way every person that downvotes this kind of
| comment without replying would just be banned.
|
| There's no replies becuase it's utter cargoculted ignorant
| bullshit.
| tholdem wrote:
| I am not talking about Google's Android. I am talking about
| GrapheneOS and in Google's blog post they mention that this
| is coming to AOSP.
| thebruce87m wrote:
| Change my view: open source operating systems are bad in
| practice since good actors rarely audit them but bad actors not
| only have the usual exploits but also have the keys to the
| castle.
|
| Edit: guess we're not having a fruitful discussion about this
| then. Shame.
| reaperducer wrote:
| _Edit: guess we're not having a fruitful discussion about
| this then. Shame._
|
| When you started with the low-grade trope "Change my view"
| you already indicated you weren't interested in a discussion,
| just arguing for the sake of arguing on the internet.
| thebruce87m wrote:
| I actually wasn't, I was looking for other opinions. I
| think my view holds merit, but clearly smarter people than
| me think differently and I wanted to hear their angle.
|
| Thanks for explaining though, I was genuinely confused at
| the downvotes. Maybe that meme doesn't mean what I thought
| it did.
| tholdem wrote:
| Why do you think bad actors "audit" open source more than
| good actors?
|
| Isn't it more the case that all actors audit all software?
| Open source just has potentially more "auditors" than closed
| source?
|
| (I don't understand what you mean by "usual exploits" and
| "keys to the castle")
| thebruce87m wrote:
| Usual exploits = using the normal tools to look for buffer
| overflows and such by attacking the running system and
| compiled binaries.
|
| Keys to the castle = the ability to also look in the source
| code for vulnerabilities, run static analysis, fuzzing but
| also architectural flaws. Basically use extra methods that
| you can't do on the running system or binaries. You would
| expect some tools to be run already by the authors but some
| tools will find things that others don't.
|
| Bad actors have an incentive to audit the code (find
| vulnerabilities) since they were in the process of
| attacking the system anyway, so why not look at the source?
| You also have state level attackers who are getting paid to
| find these sort of things, and others looking to sell
| 0-days.
|
| Who are good actors? Who is willing to spend their time
| finding and fixing bugs? There are definitely people doing
| it out of the kindness of their heart, and others might be
| researchers and so on, maybe some companies that use the
| software - but you are relying on these outnumbering the
| bad actors.
|
| I think there will always be bad actors, and assuming that
| there is an army of good actors watching your back might
| not always be correct. But happy to hear other angles,
| which is why I opened (and accidentally closed) the
| conversation.
| tholdem wrote:
| Good actors do it mostly for money and fame, bad actors
| do it mostly for money. Both actors do it for open source
| and closed source software.
|
| Isn't it a good thing that anyone can effectively use
| tools to check for potential vulnerabilities?
|
| This is just speculation, but I think open source
| projects may mature faster in terms of security because
| the low-hanging fruit is maybe found faster than in
| closed source projects?
|
| Another interesting case I think about a lot is the
| classic AOSP vs. iOS. Apple tried to sue Corellium for
| making it easier to research iOS. Then Apple started the
| Apple Security Research Device program to make it easier
| for researchers to do iOS research. These two things seem
| to me to be a kind of involuntary open-sourcing of iOS.
| Why did Apple see Corellium as a threat and why did they
| provide researchers with these special devices?
| jsheard wrote:
| They missed the opportunity to copy Samsung DeXes best party
| trick, getting a desktop interface on a _phone_ by connecting an
| external monitor. Maybe next year.
| sprinkly-dust wrote:
| That feature is available, albeit clunky. The latest Pixel
| phones have a developer option "Force Desktop Mode" which gives
| you Desktop-esque Windowing on an external monitor.
| mirsadm wrote:
| Handling configuration changes for every resize event is
| horrible. I really dislike Android's design around
| startup/pause/resume etc of the app.
| bityard wrote:
| Ah, so basically mobile devices have almost caught up to the
| Xerox Star?
| thanatos519 wrote:
| It's funny... all of the windows on my desktop are fullscreen or
| halfscreen. The only floating windows are transient dialogs.
| smokel wrote:
| I tend to have another level of nested windows inside
| applications, also mostly full- or half-screen. It's at that
| level that sometimes other shapes become interesting, for
| example for a time slider (long and horizontal), or a list of
| files (narrow and vertical).
|
| If only the world had evolved into one where operating systems
| could interact with applications in a way that would allow
| persistence of window layouts, scripting of user interface
| elements, and allowing a user to modify application layouts to
| their own preferences.
| userbinator wrote:
| How big is/are your monitor(s?)?
|
| I only maximise windows frequently when I work on a single
| small monitor (and sometimes I'll use window transparency to be
| able to see multiple windows simultaneously.) With 2 or 3 large
| monitors, there's rarely any need to have windows maximised.
| malkia wrote:
| As a long time chromebook user, which runs Android apps - this is
| more than welcome!
| spankalee wrote:
| Android is inching closer to resolving the ChromeOS / Android
| split in Android's favor.
|
| Probably a really good thing to not have two OSes when they
| really could be one. I just with Fuchsia were powering it.
| internet2000 wrote:
| Android already won, Google all but gave up on improving
| ChromeOS https://9to5google.com/2024/07/12/chromeos-lacros-
| ending/
| heraldgeezer wrote:
| Nice, way better than ipadOS stage manager.
|
| Btw, Firefox Nightly on Android now has a tabbed interface like a
| desktop, making it better for tablets.
|
| Depending on if I am just reading and watching youtube/music a
| good android tablet is enough.
| IshKebab wrote:
| The whole "relaunch the app when the window size changes" design
| from Android 1.0 was such an enormous mistake. They're really
| going to pay for it now.
| maelito wrote:
| In 2018 I spent 1 year with my Samsung Galaxy S8 as my only
| computer. Developed a big national website and a new programming
| language from Termux.
|
| Going to work with only my computer in my pocket was awesome. No
| sync between devices anymore.
|
| Forced me to use monitors at work and home which is good for the
| neck. Had a 15 inch monitor when I was on the move, then a
| lapdock.
|
| Sadly, I was quite alone and Samsung Dex being not open source
| nor well funded, some bugs where quite irritating in the long
| term.
|
| I dream of a linux smartphone powerhouse. Linux smartphones have
| mediocre processors.
|
| Give me a linux smartphone with an apple silicon processor !
| bluedino wrote:
| Would like to hear more about this if you wanted to write a
| rambling blog post or _gasp_ Twitter thread
| realusername wrote:
| How did you manage with the web inspector? There's no built-in
| web inspector on any mainstream mobile browser that I'm aware
| of and the only way to do it would be to use firebug.js like
| the good old days.
| rpmisms wrote:
| Kiwi browser has one!
| realusername wrote:
| Thanks a lot for that mention, I never heard of it and its
| inspector seems to work fine.
| rpmisms wrote:
| I just found it, myself. Great so far.
| londons_explore wrote:
| I think there are hacks to load up devtools in a new tab and
| connect it to another tab of the same browser.
|
| devtools is just a set of html and javascript after all, and
| talks to the page its debugging via a websocket with special
| powers.
| a1o wrote:
| When I had Dex I could run Ubuntu on it. I just used Firefox.
| axytol wrote:
| Not the OP, but if they mentioned they did it from Termux you
| can install an X server and a full desktop browser like
| Firefox either directly or via a chroot/proot "container" via
| for example proot-distro [0].
|
| [0] https://github.com/termux/proot-distro
| mystified5016 wrote:
| There's also an app called userland which seems to spin up
| some kind of VM. I don't know if android supports KVMs or
| if it's a real userspace chroot type of deal.
|
| I toyed with it briefly, the performance is about what I
| expected given the hardware I was using. Which is to say,
| not a terrible amount of overhead
| myself248 wrote:
| In 2014 I spent a week with my Samsung Galaxy S4 as my only
| computer. (My laptop was damaged and it took a while to repair.
| IT asked if I wanted a loaner and I said I'd get back to them
| if the phone proved inadequate.)
|
| I was testing embedded hardware, so my main tasks involved a
| UART port into a dev board. One Bluetooth serial interface
| later, I was in business; there were some Arduino IDE ports or
| something similar that had a respectable serial terminal, and
| that's all I needed to see log messages.
|
| Monitor plugged in over Samsung's weird MHL-HDMI thing;
| knockoff cable was only a few bucks. It had a power
| passthrough, so I used the otherwise-useless Cisco VoIP phone
| on my desk (I was a contractor and the phone wasn't active) as
| a USB power source to charge the S4.
|
| Bluetooth keyboard, Alt-Tab works for switching apps, and
| having real keys makes composing email a breeze. Bluetooth
| mouse, pops up a cursor on the screen and works just like touch
| with better ergonomics. Bluetooth headphones, for taking
| conference calls and listening to music.
|
| I wanted for nothing, and the whole mess fit into my coat
| pockets, I didn't bother carrying a backpack that week.
|
| It's a decade later and this is still a fringe activity?
| nextos wrote:
| > It's a decade later and this is still a fringe activity?
|
| Manufacturers don't have much incentives for convergence.
| They sell less devices and less applications.
|
| It encourages local-first, instead of cloud-first. It
| requires more thought on UI.
|
| Samsung has great hardware, they could do it if they wanted.
| But their software seems to have no direction.
| MrMember wrote:
| I've been dreaming of a good "convergence" device that I can
| use as a phone but also dock and use as a PC for probably a
| decade at this point. I've kind of lost hope, it might happen
| some day but I doubt any time soon.
| sweeter wrote:
| Not exactly the same but I use my Steamdeck for this while
| I'm traveling. It's honestly pretty nice. Although carrying
| around an old M1 mac with Asahi Linux on it isn't that much
| of a hassle either.
| freedomben wrote:
| I do the same with my Steamdeck! It's really a remarkable
| device. I'm incredibly appreciative to Valve for making it
| open and Linux-based.
|
| Desktop mode is pretty good, and it works with most
| hardware. It's plenty powerful enough to be a portable
| laptop, plus after the work is done you can pretty easily
| grab a few hours on a game :-D
| moritonal wrote:
| It's wild there are plenty of AR headset's arriving such as
| Visor, that can't just plug into your phone and spawn a full
| desktop. Instead they want you to plug into a Windows or Apple
| laptop, or battery kit.
|
| Android fully understands the idea of running multiple apps, at
| different resolutions, simultaneously and yet, no product in
| this space due to I assume restrictive APIs.
| jayd16 wrote:
| You can just run Android apps on the Quest directly.
|
| The nReal glasses will act as a monitor for your phone.
|
| It's not as easy as you think though. Streaming video at
| acceptable VR resolution and framerate isn't trivial.
|
| I guess you could get a headset to act like a car and get
| Carplay running, but full RDP of an iPhone...does anything do
| that?
| nextos wrote:
| GNOME could be great for this usecase. I've never liked GNOME
| too much since version 2. But the latest iteration, after so
| many years of churn, looks fantastic both on desktop and
| mobile.
|
| Small Linux tablets, such as Surface Go or Starlabs do touch
| _and_ desktop pretty well on GNOME. Sadly, I don 't think there
| is a good mobile equivalent to the S8 you used to use.
| kevingadd wrote:
| I had to do a bunch of ARM32/ARM64 development the other day
| and it was frustrating to be in a situation where my only
| choices were an ARM VM in the cloud or to buy a mac. I have
| this fantastic ARM-based smartphone on my desk, why can't I
| plug it in to a keyboard and monitor and use it as a real
| computer? Maybe one day.
| freedomben wrote:
| I keep a Raspberry Pi for when I need to do some ARM64 stuff,
| but yes I agree it's a bit frustrating. Though, I'd love to
| skip ARM altogether and go to RISC-V
| ed_db wrote:
| This is a good step forward, but I desperately want to be able to
| extend a display on Android rather than screen mirroring.
| ASinclair wrote:
| Think of this in the context of the previous announcement that
| ChromeOS will eventually be based on Android.
| kleiba wrote:
| Android is going for the PC market.
| gverrilla wrote:
| Best usage of tablets I've been able to find is playing Fruit
| Ninjas. I love my mouse and keyboard
| userbinator wrote:
| It's rather amusing to see them so "excited" about introducing
| features and concepts have been around since Windows 95.
|
| Even the titlebar buttons look like Windows' with the obvious
| exception of a missing minimise.
|
| On the other hand, maybe they're finally realising the fact that
| "mobile UI" has been dumbed-down for too long.
| petesergeant wrote:
| Entirely tangential, but I've been feeling serious nostalgia
| recently for a couple of small computers I've owned, specifically
| the tiny 2012 MBA, and the first-edition Asus eee. In both cases,
| they felt very solid, while also being very light. Does anyone
| have recommendations for more recent ones that are Linux based,
| and that I could get a small amount of work done on in an
| emergency? I worry the market has been completely taken over by
| Chromebooks that seem to be made out of cardboard
| greatgib wrote:
| Everything old is new again!
|
| They are so excited to just have reinvented last decade desktop
| envs that were working well before fullscreen apps were imposed
| to us.
| andai wrote:
| I recently acquired an Android tablet (Lenovo M10 -- a bit too
| cheap, but gets the job done).
|
| I also got a bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
|
| The only thing that works properly is web apps. All the native
| apps have terrible keyboard and mouse support. It made me wonder
| if I'm the only person using it this way.
|
| On that note the only GUI text editor (yes I'm learning Vim in
| Termux, no it's not a replacement for Sublime!) that's tolerable
| is VSCode running in the browser.
|
| Surprisingly comfy in fullscreen, but the fact that's it's even
| necessary is just a testament to what a joke the whole ecosystem
| is.
| mannycalavera42 wrote:
| nope, horrible Lenovo experience here as well. battery life is
| a joke
| sorenjan wrote:
| I think a tiling window manager makes more sense for mobile
| devices, but maybe that's the next step.
|
| I also saw an article a while back that Android might get a task
| bar for phones as well, that actually seems quite handy.
|
| https://9to5google.com/2024/08/06/android-phones-taskbar-tes...
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-09-22 23:00 UTC)