In 2017, Samsung showed off a way to turn your Galaxy S8 into a desktop computer. Called Samsung DeX (that stands for DEsktop eXperience — the erratic capitalization bothers me as much as it bothers you) it required a $150 docking station, ruined Samsung SideSync, and was generally written off as a gimmick that had been tried before and fabulously failed each and every time. DeX started with a handicap in the form of a required $150 docking station. Samsung didn't just can the idea, though. In fact, it addressed one of the largest pain points for consumers when, with the release of the Note 9 and Tab S4, changed how DeX operated. You no longer needed an expensive dedicated docking station — any USB to HDMI connection would work — and once hooked up and engaged your device acted as a touchpad for navigation and text entry. But still, no one paid attention to it. Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines Meanwhile, Google was busy turning Chrome OS into something that people wanted and Microsoft was busy building the Surface Go, which runs Windows 10. Both are desktop operating systems (yes, they are used on laptops here but I don't get to coin the names of things) that are slim and light, run on inexpensive hardware, and can do everything your phone does with a more "comfortable" display and keyboard system. People seem to love these ultra-portable form factors. So why does nobody care about Samsung DeX? Or rather, why do consumers seem to not care? Probably because Samsung doesn't seem to care.

The release of the Galaxy S10 was Dexless. DeX still works the same as it ever did, but the entire presentation went by without anyone mentioning it. But there was one thing that did happen that makes me think someone at the company is ready to charge forward with the idea and try to make it something we want: 12GB of RAM on the Galaxy S10+. There is only one reason you would ever need 12GB of RAM on a Galaxy S10+: DeX. You will never need to use 12GB of RAM on your S10+ out of the box. You just won't. I'm not saying that phones will never turn into a thing that need that much memory, but if they do, your S10+ will be old and in a drawer or landfill by then. So why in the &*#@ would Samsung put that much memory inside a phone? The easy answer is because it can and it gives buyers something to whip out whenever a contest for bragging rights happens. That's certainly a possibility and a look at the comments section on any smartphone article shows that some people care more about specs than anything else. Samsung makes the RAM so it's pretty cost-effective to put oodles of it in its most expensive Galaxy phones. But there is one reason you might want or need that much memory in your phone, and it's when you use it as a miniature PC case to run a desktop OS. Enter DeX and Linux on Galaxy. DeX provides an easy way to turn the S10+ from a phone to a desktop. Linux on Galaxy provides a way to make it useful. All that's left is to make Linux on Galaxy something anyone can use. And that might just be coming.