Samsung Dex without a Dex Dock


Earlier you needed a device like the Samsung Dex doc to be able to be able to even activate dex on the S9 plus.

As the Dex dock is mainly a dock with multiple USB ports and a HDMI port, I thought, the hub I use for my laptop, which is a USB c might work?

So, I decided to test the hub and see if Dex

Earlier you needed a device like the Samsung dex doc to be able to be able to even activate dex on the S9 plus.

As the Dex dock is mainly a dock with multiple USB ports and a HDMI port, I thought, the hub I use for my laptop, which is a USB c might work?

So, I decided to test the hub and see if Dex works.

I had done this once earlier but my device was running Android 8,or Oreo which didn’t seem to work, even if I connect a power cable to the hub.

Android Oreo Android Peppermint

Now that the device has been updated to Android 9 or peppermint, I’ve been hearing that it works without a dex dock.

The hub I’m using is the artis USB to HDMI hub, which I’ve reviewed earlier, you can see the video by clicking on the link on the top left.

Artis HB-400 HDMI to USB-C adapter

So, connecting the HDMI port from my monitor to the hub.

Artis HB-400 HDMI to USB-C adapter

Connect the USB c port to phone and what’s this, a notification for dex on the phone?

Samsung Dex

Agree and switch to the appropriate input on the monitor, and whoa.

Samsung Dex on monitor

So cool, and it’s taking up the entire screen real estate on the monitor.

Nice, ok now nothing seems to be moving, must see how to activate the phone as a Touchpad.

Samsung Dex Virtual Touchpad Samsung Dex Virtual Touchpad

Connecting an external Bluetooth mouse, I’m using the Logitech mx master, which is quite a good mouse also seems to be working quite well.

Logitech MX 2S mouse

Eat that iPad that’s how mouse input is supposed to be implemented.

Let’s try out multitasking now.

Opening outlook, let’s see we have. mail opened and can I open another. Only one instance of Outlook can open

Samsung Dex multitasking

Word, multiple documents, same as how it’s with outlook.

Samsung Dex multitasking

Samsung Dex multitasking

USB pen drive, works as I expected to, this is android after all

Samsung Dex with USB Pen Drive

For my T5 ssd I needed to insert power into the extra USB-c port on the dongle, as it was not able to supply enough.

Samsung Dex with Samsung T5 USB drive

Let’s check out if the galaxy S8 plus works the same, as it has been updated to android 9 as well.

Samsung Dex on Galaxy S8+

So, the necessity to purchase a dex dock is not there anymore, but do note, external usb-c dongles cost quite a pretty penny, but still 1/4th the price.

Samsung Dex

If you have an existing galaxy phone from s8 and up, the dex desktop experience works quite well.

This makes the phone into an even more portable computer you can carry anywhere.

Samsung Dex

Wherever you go a monitor, keyboard and mouse should be enough and all your files are safely stored within your device.

There are some features you would miss as compared to a full-fledged compute, but if you mostly work with documents, browse internet and access email via your phone this solution would work quite well.

 

Post Author: Vinayak

Self-confessed geek from the days when computer memory was measured in Kilobytes

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