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Comment by hnlmorg | Hacker News Reader

Some Android handsets can already so think. I think Samsung phones might.

I was pleasantly surprised with my Son relatively budget Samsung phones, when I plugged it into an external monitor. Instead of showing a the phone screen on the monitor (like an iPhone would), it loaded up a different desktop that looked more like Ubuntu than it did like Android.

I can’t remember the specifics but it was definitely designed to be used with a keyboard and mouse.

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It was probably Samsung DeX. Samsung is helping Google to develop a similar thing for Android.

You can run the browser without any issues, use ssh with JuiceSSH and have the terminal. Running vim on there might be an option but another editor that is not a TUI might be more troublesome.

It might have been. it “just worked”. I didnt have to do anything other than plug a monitor in via USB-C.

I think monitors that can act as USB hubs will let you connect mice and keyboards too, which can really come in handy.

You can also use a USB-C dock too. Have your monitors HDMI plugged into the dock, along with your keyboard and mouse. Just like you would with laptops too.

Yeah I heard this too about Samsung phones. Very nice. But I do prefer something more "freedom loving" than Android (with Play services) or iOS.

I will keep dreaming and in the mean time keep my Linux Laptop close.

I used to share that dream too. But there’s so much proprietary hardware needed to make a smart phone that I just can’t see it happening. Or at least not for anything that would be remotely practical to use.

I think the best we can hope for is something that allows us to run a sandboxed vanilla Linux container. Which I think is already possible on Android?

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