In January I went from employee to freelance. I’m a developer, so like most I had previously insisted to get one of the best laptops :

Dell XPS 13 (source)

Having to return it when I left, I started browsing the latest reviews, when I found out about these new mobile processors :

The iPhone 8 (2017) is about twice more powerful than that Dell XPS (2015) costing 1500€ *.

That’s impressive, and you obviously can do more and more things with these new borderless 6 inch phones. But it’s definitely too small for an entire day of work… Second discovery :

Samsung and Huawei, 1st and 3rd smartphone makers, both launched their desktop Android interface.

And despite being one generation behind Apple, their flagship phones are still theoretically faster than that Dell XPS which was good enough for my usecases.

Laptops should not replace desktop setups

Laptops are everywhere : at home, at work. They are sometimes handy, e.g. for meetings, trains, weekends, cafés, in the sofa. But you probably use that laptop the most… on your desk.

Unfortunately, they’re a risk for your neck, back and sometimes your wrists.

That’s how I picture myself working with a laptop.

Some people use a laptop stand and a keyboard, but can you really read the small letters of a 13 inch display from that distance without irresistibly going back to that slumped position ?

The best long-term solution is to plug it to an external screen, except for the couple hours a week where you really need its mobile capabilities.

Some phones can do all this

It’s been 6 months and I don’t own a traditional computer anymore : I use my phone for everything. At home and at work. I bet you can do the same for one if not both of these usecases.

Setup and price

There aren’t many phones yet with this desktop interface capability, but expect more to come !

That’s what I currently use :

a 500€ Samsung Galaxy S8 and its “Dex” interface . Get a S9 or the Note 9 for the best performance. The Huawei Mate 10 and P20 offer a more practical mode, but the software is designed more for meeting presentations than serious work.

A 200€ 24 inch HDMI full HD monitor (make it adjustable in height)

50€ for the mouse and keyboard of your dreams

A USB-C to [ HDMI + USB-C + USB ] adapter for 25€ that triggers the Dex interface. The official Samsung Dex adapters are more expensive and offer no advantage. Their fan is in my experience not necessary.

Simplify your digital life

The latest “ultrabook” laptops are not very heavy (~1.5kg with needed charger), but having nothing but your phone to carry around is very appreciable.

In my setup, you can carry your light keyboard, mouse, adapter with you but the ideal is to duplicate them (at work and at home) to commute without a bag. Considering you’ll buy a smartphone anyway, the total price is still lower than a setup with a high-end laptop.

Health, price, weight… what are the other advantages ?

One interface for everything . We all know very well either Android or iOS. It’s that same interface, but in a desktop format. Same notification tray letting you answer to a text without opening the app; same parameters menu. Only one mail client, one Todo app, obviously always synchronized, even in airplane mode; no need to sync your browser anymore, share anything in a click on whatsapp, telegram, pocket; all your files always there with you, photos and music (microSD cards are very cheap).

We all know very well either Android or iOS. It’s that same interface, but in a desktop format. Same notification tray letting you answer to a text without opening the app; same parameters menu. Only one mail client, one Todo app, obviously always synchronized, even in airplane mode; no need to sync your browser anymore, share anything in a click on whatsapp, telegram, pocket; all your files always there with you, photos and music (microSD cards are very cheap). Use all the Android apps . The pleasure of using Whatsapp, Telegram, messages with a real keyboard. Maps.me, OsmAnds or Google Maps, Firefox Focus, simple video edition with KineMaster, Deezer… but also Microsoft Office and Google Docs. Don’t listen to Samsung Dex reviews : all the apps work well enough with the Dex labs option enabled. They’re not perfect yet, but big screens should be on the Android developers’s roadmap now that ChromeOS widely supports them.

The pleasure of using Whatsapp, Telegram, messages with a real keyboard. Maps.me, OsmAnds or Google Maps, Firefox Focus, simple video edition with KineMaster, Deezer… but also Microsoft Office and Google Docs. Don’t listen to Samsung Dex reviews : all the apps work well enough with the Dex labs option enabled. They’re not perfect yet, but big screens should be on the Android developers’s roadmap now that ChromeOS widely supports them. It may be more environmental friendly. You won’t underuse two chips that are costly to produce, and mobile processors are more energy efficient. You won’t have to buy a new laptop if you spill coffee on your keyboard or break your screen.

You won’t underuse two chips that are costly to produce, and mobile processors are more energy efficient. You won’t have to buy a new laptop if you spill coffee on your keyboard or break your screen. Always connected. If you are lucky enough to live in a place with good 4G cover, just ditch your box ! My 100GB for 20€ data plan is enough for everything. That’s 300€ saved per year.

My 100GB for 20€ data plan is enough for everything. That’s 300€ saved per year. Only one expensive device to worry about. The rest (mousex adapter…) is not expensive, not desirable, and can be replaced easily. Just do not lose your phone 😅.

The rest (mousex adapter…) is not expensive, not desirable, and can be replaced easily. Just do not lose your phone 😅. Get a phone call ? Unplug the phone and take the call without any interruption. Don’t want to receive calls and texts ? One click and the “do not disturb” mode will hide social notifications.

What about mobility ?

I also find myself using my phone for tasks that I used to do on my laptop. You’ll soon get better with your favourite Android keyboard.

The split screen mode lets you copy or compare text repetitively from a complex document to an email.

As you can see, the on-screen keyboard remains a problem as it pops up and still takes too much room on a 6 inch screen. When I know I’ll be working many hours away from home or work, I use a 200€ portable 11 inch full HD touch monitor and a very light foldable keyboard.

You don’t need to bring a mouse, the phone is the touchpad (but a mouse doesn’t weight much).

Voilà, everything is perfect… well no, it isn’t yet :

It works, but these cables are not practical.

Bright days are coming though !

Portable monitors with batteries should be available before the end of 2018, and the new Dex mode should work in August without adapter : you’ll just need one USB-C cable and a keyboard. Huawei flagships do work through USB-C, but you can’t connect them to portable monitors as they would drain too much power through the phone’s only charging port.

A french startup will soon ship their 200€ Mirabook, a laptop body for your smartphone brain (I’ve not been able to test it yet). Companies, libraries could soon hold a fleet of no-memory laptops that would be brought to life by people’s mobiles.

Keep in mind that these mobile stations are only meant to handle 10% of the time spent on large screens.

Drawbacks

Performance is good enough for me, and the stability is optimal (no reboots, no freeze), but those used to 1500€ laptops shoud feel the difference. Expect the next generation of 7nm chips to definitively change the game.

I’m coming from 10 years of Ubuntu, but those in the Apple world might feel the desktop interface is not polished enough.

All the apps are useable, but most do not offer keyboard shortcuts. E.g. : you’ll have to leave Firefox for the simple reason that you can’t focus on the URL bar with CTRL-L or close a tab with CTRL-W. Chrome has all this, but no extensions so no ad blocker. Samsung Internet is a good compromise, offering the desktop versions of Web pages by default. Brave, Edge, Kiwi are good alternatives. Yandex browser is beginning to support chrome extensions.

No open source equivalent yet. This article might seem like a press release for Samsung, it’s not : I’d love to see free alternatives, and invest time or money. It’s probably just a matter of months : I can see the next Google phones launching ChromeOS (Google’s desktop and tablet operating system is not Android) when plugged to a monitor. Google and Apple won’t let Samsung and Huawei win that potential market.

If you have any doubt, just try. It might be ready for you, so borrow your friend’s or coworker’s compatible phone, plug it to your screen and see by yourself.

Web development on a phone

I do all my work on my phone now.

The equation is simple : if you’re not ready to use a terminal editor like vim or Emacs, don’t sell your laptop yet. Samsung has been teasing Linux on Galaxy but it’s not released and reviewed yet.

If you are, then you are ready to embrace the “smartphone as the only device” lifestyle.

You can do Web development on the phone : run vim, yarn, python, ssh on the fantastic Termux. If you find limitations or need to run intensive work, rent an ubuntu VM for a few € a month. Editing files over SSH is in my experience totally bearable even through a 4G connection.

The only remaining big problem is the absence of good browser dev tools. I’ve built a hacked version of Chromium for that matter. It’s not a perfect solution though, and I’m now using Browserstack (free for open source work). Still not perfect, but it’s an opportunity to make mobile devices first class citizens in your development process. More info on that stack overflow question.