Samsung Galaxy S8 launch: Samsung DeX is official, transforms Galaxy S8 and S8+ into a portable PC

Samsung announced the launch of Samsung DeX, the portable productivity solution for Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ users. The features of Samsung DeX mirror the functionality to that of Microsoft Continuum allowing the user to transform their smartphones into portable desktops of fully functional machines for work as detailed previously.

DeX has two components, the first is a Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ and the second is DeX Station. Samsung DeX Station includes two USB 2.0 ports, one Ethernet port, one USB Type-C power in, and a cooling fan. The station is also equipped with an Adaptive Fast Charging technology to charge your smartphone faster when connected to the station. The station may be offered as a packaged bundle depending on the region as pointed by Samsung  in a blog post.

Samsung has optimised Android to provide a desktop-like experience which plays nice with keyboard and mouse. This means that you can use keyboard shortcuts along with gestures like drag and drop to work on your files. Samsung has added resizable windows, contextual menus and desktop version web browser in collaboration with Google.

One important thing to note is that the company also tied up with Microsoft and Adobe to add compatibility to Microsoft Office apps and Adobe mobile apps like Adobe Acrobat reader and Lightroom Mobile. The company has also tied up with Citrix, VMware and Amazon Web Services to provide remote access to virtual desktops. Samsung DeX works simply by plugging in which connects the smartphone to an HDMI compatible monitor, any Bluetooth-enabled, USB or RF-type keyboard, and mouse.

Injonh Rhee, CTO of Mobile communications Business at Samsung Electronics adds, “The smartphone has become the central point for the modern mobile professional, and when giving a presentation or editing documents remotely, it means they can work effectively using just their smartphone. We developed Samsung DeX with the highly mobile worker in mind, giving them a convenient and flexible desktop experience,”.