Android smartphones will become more or less as laptops

The dream of a smartphone at the center of all our IT is a longtime dream. The idea is simple: by connecting your phone to an external monitor, it is an office interface that will be projected on it, and not a simple duplication of the smartphone screen. Imagine that we arrived at the office, that we insider our Android in a dock that we always leave there, and in an instant we will have our “PC” ready to work, with a keyboard and a Bluetooth mouse already conveniently placed on the desk. After all, the power of modern smartphones competes with that of many laptops/office computers, and the convenience of having a single device that will follow us once we leave the office is undeniable. However, this use scenario has never really taken off, despite the fact that there have been valid solutions in this direction for years, in the first place Samsung Dex. All this in the preamble to say that the fact that Google works on a similar solution, which will therefore probably be available on all future Android smartphones, although tempting, will probably not change the situation.

According to a detailed report by Android Authority, supported by tangible evidence that we will soon see, Google works on a Dex style system, but we are still at the very beginning of development, so much so that this mode will certainly not arrive with Android 16, and we will probably have to wait Android 17, unless there are a few surprises between the two. So we have a task bar at the bottom and a status bar at the top. In the first, we can insert as many applications as we want, in addition to displaying those in progress and recent applications, but there is also an application drawer to access all installed applications. Multitage is not a problem: we can execute as many applications as we want at the same time, move them, resize them or place them side by side easily, as we already do in any office operating system. There is also a drag and drop support, provided that it is implemented in terms of each application (which developers will logically want to do once this system becomes the standard).

For the moment, Google seems to have adapted the feverish mode available on the Pixel tablet, which is a good starting point, but there is still a long way to go to have a competitive office experience. And then opens the chapter on applications. On Android, it is true that there is a wide choice, but a mobile application has a goal, while the same application in Desktop version has others, and transplanting an experience designed for small portable screens on a large fixed screen does not necessarily guarantee a good user experience. In short, the applications themselves must provide different scenarios of use, but that will only happen if Google builds solid foundations, otherwise the developers themselves will not be interested in investing in these applications. In short, as interesting as the idea itself may be, so that it is truly successful, several pieces must assemble. Let’s just hope that Google will take its time with it too, otherwise it will only be a vain expectation.