Thanks for watching! Do you think you could replace your laptop with something like a NexDock? Stay equipped with all your devices and accessories on the go! The Offsite Laptop Bag is now available at LTTStore.com: lmg.gg/laptopbagsc
For my needs, this would work pretty darn well if the software also was designed expecting the desktop layout as an option. Or rather, I'd love this if I didn't already have a laptop better than my phone.
Soooo, they wasted half the space they could've used for a nice, big, usable keyboard for a wireless charging pad, on a device you plug your phone into....
Surely when plugged in the phone screen should be about the best touchpad you could reasonably have. Screen and keyboard, with phone plugged in on whichever side you want your trackpad to be. Maybe even have a slide out shelf for it?
Well, I understand the magnetic ring also sort of "locks" it there, so they probably figured customers would want a place on the machine to hold the actual phone itself so that it's not hanging awkwardly off the side if you decide to stand up, so that your phone doesn't go flying.
I cant help but think of an alternate reality where windows phones are a success, and we can power these docks with that phone, running a desktop version of windows mobile os. Holy cow.
This has been a thing on the Linux side of desktops/phones for a long, long time. Years before Samsung Dex was a thing as well. The first time I saw this idea in action was with Ubuntu Touch in 2011. Unfortunately, the phone side of Linux phones wasn't there yet and still isn't, but people are making great progress on several Linux Phone OS'es, so hopefully this will be good enough to use as a daily driver within a few years! The Desktop part is there. The phone part is getting close :)
This is their 3rd video about nexdocks and have yet to realize that it’s not NEXDOCK’s trackpad that’s bad and causing ghost touches. It’s that ANDROID itself don’t have palm rejection built in so there’s no way for nexdock to overcome this. They have actually tried things in the past where the trackpad will disable for half a second when a letter is pressed but i guess that’s not a perfect solution. As someone who uses dex a lot, the best solution is just to disable the trackpad and use a slim wirelesss mouse. With that solved, the phone as a Laptop idea actually works well
>They have actually tried things in the past where the trackpad will disable for half a second when a letter is pressed but i guess that’s not a perfect solution Its not a good idea, because then you can't play games with the trackpad. When you try to move, the trackpad gets disabled.
@@vallorahn Android barely has a desktop mode in the base image, let alone usable drivers. The mouse in Android is mostly coded as an accessibility feature, rather than an actually serious method of input.
You know... I wonder if Framework could make a replacement "motherboard module" that is just a phone dock that acts as a dock connected to the monitor/keyboard and all the type C modular I/O port dongles. Come to think of it, I think you might be able to do it yourself with some sketchy adapters and modding savvy... Riley! Do it!
I'd like one where its HDMI-in DP-in USB-C-DP-in instead. I want a portable keyboard-trackpad-screen shell for multiple devices: Laptop? Extra screen. My ITX desktop? screen KB and mouse so I don't have to lug a screen. Phone? Phone desktop? Heck even a camera? yup portable monitor.
This actually sounds like a really fun project. I would love to try something like this as a big board design project, but the effort it takes to get everything working perfectly might put me off it. I've thought it would be fun to make something like my own ARM motherboard with a Pi CM5 once those become available as well.
We have something close with dex or winlator on a phone that can connect to a monitor, Bluetooth and keyboard. A peek at the power in our pockets for true portable consoles.
Just put a USC-C port with a fitted frame for your phone mode, into an inset area beneath the keyboard and use the phone as a trackpad while it connects wired and charges.
Iirc, they already make it possible for you to buy the chassis, monitor, etc separately right? With that + the modular I/O, I imagine it's already possible to build something like this. Though I imagine it's a lot more complicated than if they made a dedicated product for it.
I had gotten the Razer phone years ago because one of the ideas they were tossing around was a dock computer that you would insert the phone into and the phone would then become the CPU and touchpad for the laptop. Sadly, they never made that dock system. I miss that old phone too, it had great speakers and I could hear phone calls much better in loud environments.
Yeah, the screen quality is always awful with these, for the price. Daily drove a NexDock Touch for a while but you can get a 13 inch OLED portable monitors for ~180$ nowadays.
You might as well stretch your budget a little and get a used Galaxy Tab S8+ or even an S8 Ultra if you need a bigger screen. Sure, you'd be missing out on having a 15.6" screen, but I'd argue a slightly smaller panel that isn't dogshit is much better than having a bigger panel that is. DeX integration is better as well
@@someusername1872Its a common argument to recommend a tablet instead, but these lapdocks aren't directly comparable. You can even use these with some of the tablets.
@@usbsol There is a new Type C spec called VLink that allows Type C INTO a tablet/phone/whatever (Obviously we've had output for a long time now). Once Android Tablets get it, then NexDocks will probably lose their niche. The Quest 3 can do display input now, too, but it's not quite as seamless as VLink (Quest 4 probably will support it).
People who knock this dont understand how useful dex can be when your fully invested and are willing to go all in. Having my work on my phone and my laptop seemless is amazing.
I tried so hard to make it work for me but Dex just wasn't good enough for what I was trying to do. Hopefully Samsung and other companies will start taking things like Dex more seriously.
It's still Android at the end of the day though. Great as mobile OS (if you ignore the bloat), but mediocre at best as a desktop OS. Samsung did have a full Linux version of Dex, but axed it.
@tams805 yes but the majority of people who use laptops could probably get away with a Chromebook. The only thing you can't do is run an exe but most things have gone away from that anyway. Most software like office have moved to cloud based solutions. You can have multiple windows open at the same time. I think most people just haven't used android or dex on a big enough screen to get how much better it is today then even a year ago. I have a powerful desktop at home, I don't need a powerful/expensive laptop too.
I’m very disappointed in this video. They made no mention of the fact that people preordered this in November, then they dropped the preorder price because they didn’t get much traction when they announced it; you only got the lower price if you canceled your original order and made a new preorder. There’s also no mention of the fact that over 1,000 people preordered this with the promise of 120Hz and then they sent 60Hz panels. When you contact support they say that they informed customers of the change, and they provide the complaining customer with a link; the link takes you to a page that says they are starting production. Near the bottom of the page they throw in the fact that they will ship with 60Hz instead. This notice was given in a blog post. The only way you could find it is by specifically looking for it. No email was sent out to customers, and literally NOTHING was said on the page they send you to for paying the rest of the amount on your order. This company has proven to not care at all about customers, and I’m very disappointed in LTT for not calling a single thing out about their behavior.
@@millwyers because it’s literally their job to vet their sponsors and to be aware of any anti-consumer behavior. ETA Prime made a passing mention of it in his video and he is literally one guy with an order of magnitude less resources than LTT. edit: grammar
@dbaldwin2803 "vet their sponsors" what sponsor? Nexdock didn't sponsor this video, they most likely paid for that device. And ETA prime doesn't mention any bait and switch on the preorder, he only says that a 120hz panel would be nice but he understands why they opted for 60 hz. And again, if you have to intentionally seek out this info, then you can't expect them to be aware of it unless someone points it out to them before they do this review. None of the things you've criticized LTT for in this comment make any sense, you're just going on every video review you can for the device bitching about nexdock and begging for an audience.
@@millwyers ETA Prime is notorious for watering down literally anything bad about a company; just check his comments. The fact that he mentioned it at all shows he was aware that they switched it on customers. You’re correct, Nexdock didn’t sponsor the video; that was my bad. The fact still remains that LTT, with is 100+ employees, went out of their way to pick this specific product to “showcase” in a video. They absolutely have the resources to do homework on something they spend a non-trivial number of man-hours “researching,” pitching, procuring, shooting and editing. I’m sure I’d have gotten more traction if I’d watch and commented earlier than I had. LTT’s job is to inform and entertain. This video’s purpose is almost exclusively in the “inform” camp. It is reasonable for people to expect LTT to do their research as they go as far as to spend entire podcast segments calling out super niche companies that act in bad faith. People “bitching” is how they find out they fell short of their own standards they talk about all the time.
Kinda have to agree with the other guy. Yes, LTT vets their sponsors, but as pointed out, they didn't sponsor the video, and they couldn't know about these issues without specifically being made aware of them, because as you said they wouldn't know if they weren't looking for it. Given the circumstances you have every right to be upset, but getting upset and criticizing reviewers for not mentioning things they evidently aren't aware of isn't going to change anything.
Android 15's revamped desktop mode takes one step closer to release Android 15 QPR1 Beta 1 adds a new developer option to enable the revamped desktop mode, but it doesn’t work yet. Help push it up the priority list guys
Hopefully the brings it to the pixel and more brands so more software becomes available and Google also makes it more friendly as a base. I use Motorola Smart Connect and the main limit is the software. For normal office stuff it's fine. Able to use Solid Explorer (files) which is the best desktop one I've found and fan bring cloud, network and local storage all together. Little things like drag and drop from non local storage into say gmail are the bits Google needs to work on etc.
I've got the non XL model and I use it almost daily in my job, it a handy KVM for server and desktop troubleshooting or when I need to do a desktop transfer.
9:00 Much of the power draw of laptops in particular is the screen, yes you can get high end screens that sip juice, but then the device is going to be $500 more just for the screen
He'd have to actually bother learning about DeX for that to be at all worthwhile filming. He couldn't even figure out that you can change the cursor size and colour here...
I really like it there too. Half the reason I didn't buy a new laptop and got a minipc and a portable monitor instead is that there aren't really any laptops with track pad not in the way!
I remember seeing a what was called a "Folio" in a PC magazine over 10 years ago with a similar concept, except phones were inserted and doubled as the trackpad. For context if I remember correctly the same magazine had an article on an early 4K TV that cost over $400,000 USD.
Razr had a similar concept for their phone, iirc. It would have worked, but i think the market is so niche so it wasn't profitable. Also at this point, I'd rather have the phone mounted to use it as my webcam as well
@@GeorgiBalabanovPadFone did not dock the phone as a trackpad, it docked the phone on the back of the screen making the phone useless. Terrible design.
I have flashbacks to Windows Continuum. I was so looking forward to that, the dream was to just give every one a phone and combine it with our Citrix environment. Oh well...
If Samsung ever lets DeX run natively on the inner display, it'll be perfect. There's a multi-year-old thread on the Samsung Members forum with hundreds of people asking for this but Samsung keeps ignoring it...
If this is basically just a monitor and keyboard/hollow laptop, shouldn't there be space to put a battery with like three times that capacity in there when it doesn't have a full mainboard inside?
I just want better battery life for my gaming laptop I don't like phones large enough to be impossible to use one handed but small enough to be a subpar video watching experience and poor cooling
@vincenzobrocato11there's no need to have Linux, devs just need to port applications to Android. Android already does all the things, unlike mobile Linux distros.
@vincenzobrocato11 Mobile Linux is absolutely awful at everyday phone functionality and has a completely uninspiring application library, especially for applications that function well on a phone. It's a lot more pragmatic to port desktop applications to Android than it is to continue trying to force mobile Linux to be a thing. Even then, the install base of mobile Linux is infinitesimal compared to Android, so you're still losing the battle for making it worth developers' time.
A week ago I was thinking that this will be the future of phone/laptops. 1 mobile device that you can pop into any laptop chassis via USB-C. Maybe the phone can be the touchpad while inserted.
DeX (and others) already does that - the phone can be used as a touchpad, as a keyboard, or you can continue using it as a phone while using DeX on the external display. This can be done with a wired or wireless connection.
FYI, Korea uses a similar power outlet as one used for EU but KR one is thicker and slightly narrower. EU plugs are usable in Korea but it will be little loose and can be break in harsh condition so be careful.
So instead of having one product that works with every phone you need to create dozens of products to work with just the most popular current phones. The company should reach out to you for more ideas.
I went on vacation recently and had my Asus portable monitor with me. It's a horrid display, but it was bigger than my phone, so I tried out Dex for the first time and I now fully believe in a future where your phone can be your only computer. But Dex has a long way to go for that to happen. The fact it uses mobile apps that require you to do extra touches to activate things (like you need to click on a youtube video in order to bring up the pause menu, you can't just hover over the video to have the pause button appear) but if that could be fixed (maybe I should use a browser and set the websites to desktop mode?) I would love to have something like this for casual use.
The biggest problem about all of this is that Samsung removed Linux on dex. Samsung is never going to invest enough money to their desktop environment as the ROI is small and it canaballises their Chromebook sales. But with Linux, not only is it outsourcing their work, it'll also be a selling point for enthusiast.
@@FFXfeverLinux on DeX never made sense. The whole point of DeX is to have access to the apps you're already using on mobile in a desktop environment. Running a Linux instance in a container alongside Android broke this functionality and made for a disjointed UX. The solution is to continue to push devs to develop and port applications to Android natively (see Krita). Besides, there's nothing stopping you from spinning up Linux on your own via Termux.
@@NavicNick always a good starting point to open settings and then seach for a key term. For example, I opened Settings in DeX and typed "pointer" and immediately it surfaced the options for pointer colour and size.
The idea is great - a laptop shell acting as a dock for your phone - but it places even greater emphasis on the lapdock's components to be good enough to be used across multiple phones (or other devices you dock with it). I'm not sure a 1080p 60Hz 300 nits display is good enough, when there's a fair number of phones (even cheap ones) out there that can exceed one of those 3 display specs. It's also competing against Chromebooks - I just bought a new Chromebook with a 1200p display for $233 inc tax - significantly cheaper than this lapdock and doesn't need a second device to dock with it. What it really needs is a very modular approach like Framework has - easily repairable/upgradeable components so you can extend the life of the lapdock beyond the typical life on the phone you'll dock to it (which is now 4-5 years rather than 1-2 years).
Having used the NexDock kickstarter version - it never got firmware updates like they promised but it's an extremely useful device for setting up systems so I don't have to lug a full monitor and keyboard. I really wish they'd focus on making these things *smaller* and *lighter*.
I used to have an earlier model of this thing for work for a while. I mainly used it as a portable monitor, keyboard, and mouse when setting up PCs. Unfortunately, mine ran into a power issue of some kind and shorted itself out. The replacement did the same within a week. Now I just carry a cheap portable monitor and cheap wireless keyboard and trackbad combo unit. I much preferred the NexDock, but the thing was so fragile feeling to begin with and the failures ended up proving that true sadly.
I have the uPerfect version and I like it a lot. They are like the BEST IT debug tools you can have. Tests USB, display out as well. Especially if you have to fresh install windows. It's great. My biggest issue and I see it's not fixed in this one, the screen is heavier than the keyboard, so as soon as that screen hits 110 degrees or more, it's top heavy. Wished they'd up the brightness and resolution on these.
Isn’t the 1080p resolution the maximum video output even of high end smartphones? Last time I tried with a Samsung s23 ultra on a 4k display the output was 1080p.
Man, I'm really into this whole phone-as-laptop idea! It's like sci-fi come to life! 😄 But honestly, I just hope they get the keyboard right one day. It always seems so cramped. Can't wait to see if these things actually catch on! 🚀
You can also use a universal laptop docking station, connect the USB C to your phone and use that with a normal keyboard, mouse and monitor setup. I have this dream too. Phones are so powerful, we don't really need big computers for mundane tasks anymore.
Somehow the Motorola Atrix 4g that I had solved this like 10 years ago. The phone had micro hdmi and micro usb side by side and the phone slotted into the dock. It worked perfectly. I later repurposed the lapdock as a raspberry pi laptop. It was dope. I too want the lapdock to live on. Thankyou Riley for fighting the fight.
Thank you for the honest review. I picked one if these up and while certainly not perfect, I too, have/share the dream of my phone being the only gadget I need. One question: At 1:36 you mentioned that the usb A is 3.0. Can you please confirm this? That would be awesome, but I recall reading somewhere that is is 2.0. Thanks again.
Could you turn a framework into this? Like get the frame and a USB c module, and then a adapter for the display? Fill the rest with battery. Sounds like a cool project.
This seems like it would be a good accessory for a Windows handheld gaming computer, to help handle the Windows usability difficulties in these devices, it might even turn them into a practical everyday use computers. So, how is the usability of this with an Ally X? Are there still issues with the touchpad?
The fundamental problem is that there will always be more friction using a phone as a tablet/PC than just using those dedicated devices. Even plugging in an extra cable is a miniscule effort that will add up on your nerves over time. Then you add trackpad issues, UI scaling and visibility issues, etc. (20% of the time my monitor just refuses to see DeX, gotta power cycle till it works)...I too dream of the magical "everything device" that works in any form factor, and it's great that it's technically possible, but for now a phone is just best at being a phone.
The friction you speak of is significantly mitigated by the fact that most are on their phone more often than not and being able to pick up right where you left off in DeX just by connecting to a monitor or lapdock makes for an exceptional workflow. I used DeX as my daily PC for 3 years and absolutely loved that aspect. It's far less friction than putting the phone away and logging into an entirely separate device, trying to pick up where I left off on my phone. Most also already plug their laptop in at a desk to use peripherals like an external display, so this is no different in that sense.
a cool use case ive seen with the nexdock is lugging it around and using your phone to remote home into your main workstation. bypassing most of the main dex stuff for samsung other than maybe email and netflix or anything else youd use a streaming machine for
Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't they tested every Nexdock using DeX? I ask because I've always had issues with touch and mouse inputs with DeX. I normally use a Logitech K400 and using the touch pad on that has given me nothing but issues, which left me thinking it's the K400 that is the problem. I recently tried using my G502 mouse and dongle and still had issues. Turning off Wi-Fi helped, but didn't fix the issue. Maybe it's not the Nexdock that's having these problems. I'd suggest giving it a shot with a Pixel, Motorola, RedMagic 8 or 9, or even the ASUS ROG phone to make sure it's not the Nexdock.
I had an ASUS Transformer back in the day (I carted that thing all around Afghanistan with me...) that I LOVED and this kiiiiinda has a similar sort of vibe. There was also a Motorola phone back a few years before that that had something like this, too...the Motorola Atrix? If I remember correctly? Either way, I thought it was a cool idea then and I still think it's a cool idea, but they gotta make it legit awesome to use, put a huge battery in it, and make it cheap. It'd be SUPER handy to toss in a bag for when you need to type something, want a bigger screen, need a battery boost, whatever, then if it gets lost or stolen or something, it wouldn't matter. Kinda like how Chromebooks started out.
I really want this, but I already hardly use my laptop. I'm either at home with my nice desktop PC or when I'm not, I got other things to do. But yeah, the dream needs to be kept alive! Honestly, if I was using my laptop a lot for "chromebook"-level tasks, I would absolutely try it. More than 1080p would be nice though - it's weird if my phone has a significantly higher resolution than the monitor it is connected to.
I've had a few of nexdocks products, I'm glad they improved the keyboard. As you said why in pete's sake is the trackpad still bargain parts bin? If only they would spend a few pennies or yuan more for a decent experience.
I've been looking for something like this, not for my phone, but for my GPD Win 3. I figure with this, I can now bring my gaming AND my work with me anywhere!
Good to see the dream of OS convergence still live and kickin! Gotta try out a Linux Phone on it, with KDE and Gnome doing a lot of work to make their apps work on both from my understanding!
Motorola had the Lapdock a decade ago. It's smaller & lighter. But it's only 1366x768, and one must source all kinds of weird cables. The best part it can be used as a KVM for any computing device... I still use mine.
I believe Uperfect has a Lapdock with none of those problems with trackpad and etc. I also want this working well, always wanted something like these, but I think the smartphone just hanging around the dock is a horrible idea. Also add stylus support if you are doing a 2 in 1 lapdock.
I tried the Next dock but felt like QC and quality was lacking. I initially had an issue with my package being lost and having it go missing for over a month going back and forth with the company asking for a replacement before they finally and reluctantly agreed to replace it. I lost my SD card in the chassis and had to tear my next dock apart to retrieve it. The advertised battery life was nowhere close to what I was seeing, even while using conservative settings. What ended up make me return it was the continuation high pitch whine from it when charging while the dock was on. It wouldnt do it when off and only got worse if I was charging my phone... With all this said. A very brief Google search shows the exact same unit you reviewed with different price points and manufacturers. Could LTT purchase these and do a side by side comparison and tear down to see if NextDock clones are of the same quality or is NextDock buying and rebranding the cheaper docks at a marked up premium price
All i can think about is using this with an Ayaneo or something similar to play games that require a keyboard, and instead of the touch pad, just bring a mouse
6:34 in the video.Riley son sees the video, of his dad talking about him believing about using a phone as a PC, and in the year 2090 they did."they did it dad, they finally did it...tho it still has gost clicks, and it has no support for vr" then he trashs it and connects his brain directly to the internet, because UI is for chumps.
I like it, but I prefer plugging into AR glasses for high refreshrate. Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, So, a nearly completely clean setup. Works even better with gamepad and streaming/emulation.
I’m sure everyone has had this exact idea before and I’m happy someone is actually attempting it, but I have to say, not having the phone dock below the keyboard and using it as a track pad is a huge oversight.
I have one and I use it to connect and test my SBCs. I would love to upgrade if the wired connection would be recognized faster, most times I have to plug and unplug the mini HDMI until the connection gets recognized. Also it needs to be higher than 500nits and they need to drop the mini HDMI to full size
I'm kinda considering getting a nexdock? Not the XL, I don't need all the space, wireless charging, and IMO funky keyboard trackpad situation, but having a second screen for my Surface Go 3 that isn't a poor connection via duet display to an old crappy Chromebook or my small phone would be nice, alongside just having my phone on a larger screen sometimes as well.
Question is, for use with a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, does it actually provide enough power to the connected device to charge while in use or does it only provide like 5v 3A to charge a phone? I love the previous version as a screen for the two when I'm out and about, though I have to use HDMI to be able to keep the two charged while using the Nexdock and charging it at the same time. Really needs a two-cable solution. One to plug into the Nexdock, and the other to plug in to your phone/Steam Deck/Switch and provide higher watt PD to some degree.
That looked like a dream years ago. But if we're to be honest, at the price of storage on smartphone, the pace at which android (which is the main target) is becoming closed source, the increasing difficulty to run rooted roms, the removal of additional storage, the thermal package, the cooling abilities and the apps ecosystem in general, that won't happen unless we have a drastic change in hardware/software and manufacturer mentalities.
I still own a nexdock touch. Its not ideal but its excellent for when i need to configure some desktop side of steam deck. Another advantage with your phone and dex is at least here in the states hotspotting isnt unlimited data with most plans. Using a dock like this is a decent workaround. Disable trackpad and get a mouse. I think if you live a tech life. You probably can find good value out of these $300 device around the house.
This thing will become the next thing. It is sort of already there with Samsung Dex and the Fold phones but juuust a little bit more to go and it will boooom.
Just plug your phone into a usb hub that has hdmi and usb for peripherals and pass through charging only payed $60 for mine and i can get better fps on Fortnite with my s24ultra than with my ps4, and can use mouse and keyboard i dont notice any latency this way, or can bluetooth the ps4 controller straight to the phone with some latency
I picked up a nexdock last time around they reviewed one as a means to connect to servers. It works great for that, i dont have a better way to lug around screen/keyboard/mouse for phsyical server work.
I have been using my phone as my personal "laptop" for the past 5 years, I game on it, I do dev work on it, surf the web, view videos, edit images, I use it for remote connection to servers.... I'm saving for a foldable phone next because of how much I use the phone and how useful that extra screen could be I would have bought one of this dock, if only it were available in my country
Been using my S21 Ultra with the NexDock touch as my main computer for a couple years now and I actually love it! (and yes, I watched this video on it! 😂) I've moved a lot of my stuff to cloud-based solutions, like Google Docs etc, and I also have ShadowPC to removtely connect to a wondows PC for the few things only Windows can do (namely gaming). But other than that I do most things on my S21 Ultra these days. Its certainly still got quirks, but there is something awesome about it that's really hard to explain. It's maybe not ready for the average user yet, but I do think this may become increasingly normal over the next five years or so.
I think the future will be like this. When the horsepower of smartphone chips allows it, your smartphone will host full Windows/Macos images but with UI that will adapt to the requested screen size. iPhone for example will show the "iOS" UI we all know but when connected to a monitor will expand to full-fledged Macos, like Dex works now. Same for Windows. Oh, and this way Windows Phone will make a come back. 😊
You could do another video comparing the experience of samsung dex vs motorola readyfor vs a windows handheld vs steamdeck... and maybe apple? Does ios have any support for this kind of mode?
But can it actively keep your phone charged while its connected to the NexDock via USB if the NexDock charger is also plugged in?! I got burnt by that issue when I bought the NexDock 360, not knowing its passthrough charging only outputs 850ma (or 4.25 watts)of current to the phone, which will NOT keep it charged while in use through the NexDock!
I think the phone as PC thing won't really work smoothly as long as phone software is designed with the assumption that it'll be viewed through a phone screen. However, something like this seems like a perfect partner for a handheld PC, a single item attaching with a single cable that gives you a full size keyboard and display. The price would have to go down significantly before it would look like a better option than a dock, usb keyboard, and conventional portable display though.
I remember the 1st iteration of this idea on the Motorola ATRIX. I had it. It was really quite awesome. Nvidia Tegra Processor, dual OS on the phone of Android and Linux and the Laptop Dock as it was called was awesome. the tech for the time it had to connect with micro USB and Micro HDMI. But the concept worked. Sadly the demand was never there. But i had one.
Wouldn't the wireless mode be more efficient if the phone was closer (such as where the magnetic charging port was)? Although, it is interesting it can work a little distance away.
Hey brother!Can you help me with a question since you know far more than me?I prioritize ANC and comfort and I have these options;(edifier WH950NB, sony wh750b, 1more sonoflow, anker soundcore q30 and space one)what option is better?you can sugest something else if you know 😊
1. I'm into the dream, but not at that price for a 1080P screen with only 60Hz refresh rates. 2. Android 15 Beta has apparently unlocked USB-C to Display Port on Pixel 7 and up phones. They are also working on their desktop mode which you might have to force on in the developer settings. 3. The NexDock should incorporate a divot in the bottom to allow seamless Raspberry Pi integration so you can use it as a thin client/desktop while phone desktop modes continue to mature.
I use uperfect dock with my z fold 3 and now fold 6 all the time. Now the speakers are crap but everything else works. Use goodlock to modify the dex mouse pointer.
Thanks for watching! Do you think you could replace your laptop with something like a NexDock?
Stay equipped with all your devices and accessories on the go! The Offsite Laptop Bag is now available at LTTStore.com: lmg.gg/laptopbagsc
Waited so long for this
... channels r not linked... to row like in main...
Totally, how is it with none Dex phones?
For my needs, this would work pretty darn well if the software also was designed expecting the desktop layout as an option. Or rather, I'd love this if I didn't already have a laptop better than my phone.
This coupled with an ROG ally X would be a wicked bit of kit 👀
Soooo, they wasted half the space they could've used for a nice, big, usable keyboard for a wireless charging pad, on a device you plug your phone into....
My thoughts exactly. Here's the kicker: if you plug your phone in, not only does your latency drop to zero, the dock also charges the phone.
Indeed, some team at the end of a day looked at that and went "yeah, that's what users want" 🤦
Surely when plugged in the phone screen should be about the best touchpad you could reasonably have.
Screen and keyboard, with phone plugged in on whichever side you want your trackpad to be. Maybe even have a slide out shelf for it?
Well, I understand the magnetic ring also sort of "locks" it there, so they probably figured customers would want a place on the machine to hold the actual phone itself so that it's not hanging awkwardly off the side if you decide to stand up, so that your phone doesn't go flying.
Disigned by hommer simpson...😂
I cant help but think of an alternate reality where windows phones are a success, and we can power these docks with that phone, running a desktop version of windows mobile os. Holy cow.
We could have had it all
bro they tried that with the surface tablets, it was bad
@shib5267 the Surface tablet is a whole ass computer, not a dock for a phone
This has been a thing on the Linux side of desktops/phones for a long, long time. Years before Samsung Dex was a thing as well. The first time I saw this idea in action was with Ubuntu Touch in 2011. Unfortunately, the phone side of Linux phones wasn't there yet and still isn't, but people are making great progress on several Linux Phone OS'es, so hopefully this will be good enough to use as a daily driver within a few years! The Desktop part is there. The phone part is getting close :)
It might feel like you want that but I almost guarantee you don't actually want a shared battery and device lol
This is their 3rd video about nexdocks and have yet to realize that it’s not NEXDOCK’s trackpad that’s bad and causing ghost touches. It’s that ANDROID itself don’t have palm rejection built in so there’s no way for nexdock to overcome this. They have actually tried things in the past where the trackpad will disable for half a second when a letter is pressed but i guess that’s not a perfect solution. As someone who uses dex a lot, the best solution is just to disable the trackpad and use a slim wirelesss mouse. With that solved, the phone as a Laptop idea actually works well
>They have actually tried things in the past where the trackpad will disable for half a second when a letter is pressed but i guess that’s not a perfect solution
Its not a good idea, because then you can't play games with the trackpad. When you try to move, the trackpad gets disabled.
@@smokyz_ why are you playing games on a trackpad and keyboard?
And with palm rejection on windows, you can't really do trackpad+kb gaming anyways
I wonder, why didn't they write new Android drivers for the trackpad...
@@vallorahn Android barely has a desktop mode in the base image, let alone usable drivers. The mouse in Android is mostly coded as an accessibility feature, rather than an actually serious method of input.
@@ThunderGokit actually is Windows palm rejection. You're rightttt
You know... I wonder if Framework could make a replacement "motherboard module" that is just a phone dock that acts as a dock connected to the monitor/keyboard and all the type C modular I/O port dongles. Come to think of it, I think you might be able to do it yourself with some sketchy adapters and modding savvy... Riley! Do it!
Hell they could probably do it in a way where you put the phone inside of the shell.
Oooohh I like this idea!
I'd like one where its HDMI-in DP-in USB-C-DP-in instead.
I want a portable keyboard-trackpad-screen shell for multiple devices: Laptop? Extra screen. My ITX desktop? screen KB and mouse so I don't have to lug a screen. Phone? Phone desktop? Heck even a camera? yup portable monitor.
I’m literally waiting for this. It just requires a relatively cheap logic board. The expensive part will be the rest of the laptop parts that run it.
This actually sounds like a really fun project. I would love to try something like this as a big board design project, but the effort it takes to get everything working perfectly might put me off it. I've thought it would be fun to make something like my own ARM motherboard with a Pi CM5 once those become available as well.
No one other than Riley is allowed to review lapdocks
That’s… that’s the opposite of the point of reviews 😂
@@italianbasegard No, no. He's got a point. Only Riley is allowed to review lapdocks.
Fair argument sir. Only Riley should be allowed to review lapdocks.
Lets amend this to "No one other than Riley is allowed to review"
This is the way.
Considering these small computers in our hands have become so capable and expensive, this should be a standard feature.
We have something close with dex or winlator on a phone that can connect to a monitor, Bluetooth and keyboard.
A peek at the power in our pockets for true portable consoles.
Just put a USC-C port with a fitted frame for your phone mode, into an inset area beneath the keyboard and use the phone as a trackpad while it connects wired and charges.
framework should do one of these
we need a high quality cheaper option
@@iheuzioI suppose you could buy the Last Generation one
Iirc, they already make it possible for you to buy the chassis, monitor, etc separately right? With that + the modular I/O, I imagine it's already possible to build something like this.
Though I imagine it's a lot more complicated than if they made a dedicated product for it.
It’s also such a niche product that it would likely be a terrible investment for them.
Theres a thread; "Lapdock (for a mobile desktop experience and more!)"
I had gotten the Razer phone years ago because one of the ideas they were tossing around was a dock computer that you would insert the phone into and the phone would then become the CPU and touchpad for the laptop. Sadly, they never made that dock system. I miss that old phone too, it had great speakers and I could hear phone calls much better in loud environments.
Had a razer phone 2 wanted project linda to be released so bad
Never buy something based on future promises
I had both Razer 1 and 2 and I loooved the speakers in them as well. Good ol' times
You killed me @ 300 nits
Yeah, the screen quality is always awful with these, for the price. Daily drove a NexDock Touch for a while but you can get a 13 inch OLED portable monitors for ~180$ nowadays.
You might as well stretch your budget a little and get a used Galaxy Tab S8+ or even an S8 Ultra if you need a bigger screen. Sure, you'd be missing out on having a 15.6" screen, but I'd argue a slightly smaller panel that isn't dogshit is much better than having a bigger panel that is. DeX integration is better as well
My thoughts exactly 👍
Real happy about my S8 ultra with sleeve keyboard and dex.
@@someusername1872Its a common argument to recommend a tablet instead, but these lapdocks aren't directly comparable. You can even use these with some of the tablets.
@@usbsol There is a new Type C spec called VLink that allows Type C INTO a tablet/phone/whatever (Obviously we've had output for a long time now). Once Android Tablets get it, then NexDocks will probably lose their niche. The Quest 3 can do display input now, too, but it's not quite as seamless as VLink (Quest 4 probably will support it).
People who knock this dont understand how useful dex can be when your fully invested and are willing to go all in. Having my work on my phone and my laptop seemless is amazing.
I tried so hard to make it work for me but Dex just wasn't good enough for what I was trying to do. Hopefully Samsung and other companies will start taking things like Dex more seriously.
@@hassam363Most probably big companies like Samsung and Apple won't do this, because it would mean selling less laptops.
It's still Android at the end of the day though. Great as mobile OS (if you ignore the bloat), but mediocre at best as a desktop OS.
Samsung did have a full Linux version of Dex, but axed it.
@tams805 yes but the majority of people who use laptops could probably get away with a Chromebook. The only thing you can't do is run an exe but most things have gone away from that anyway. Most software like office have moved to cloud based solutions. You can have multiple windows open at the same time. I think most people just haven't used android or dex on a big enough screen to get how much better it is today then even a year ago. I have a powerful desktop at home, I don't need a powerful/expensive laptop too.
I’m very disappointed in this video. They made no mention of the fact that people preordered this in November, then they dropped the preorder price because they didn’t get much traction when they announced it; you only got the lower price if you canceled your original order and made a new preorder. There’s also no mention of the fact that over 1,000 people preordered this with the promise of 120Hz and then they sent 60Hz panels. When you contact support they say that they informed customers of the change, and they provide the complaining customer with a link; the link takes you to a page that says they are starting production. Near the bottom of the page they throw in the fact that they will ship with 60Hz instead. This notice was given in a blog post. The only way you could find it is by specifically looking for it. No email was sent out to customers, and literally NOTHING was said on the page they send you to for paying the rest of the amount on your order. This company has proven to not care at all about customers, and I’m very disappointed in LTT for not calling a single thing out about their behavior.
So if there was no mention of these preorder changes, and info could only be found by seeking it out, how do you expect LTT to be aware of this?
@@millwyers because it’s literally their job to vet their sponsors and to be aware of any anti-consumer behavior. ETA Prime made a passing mention of it in his video and he is literally one guy with an order of magnitude less resources than LTT.
edit: grammar
@dbaldwin2803 "vet their sponsors" what sponsor? Nexdock didn't sponsor this video, they most likely paid for that device. And ETA prime doesn't mention any bait and switch on the preorder, he only says that a 120hz panel would be nice but he understands why they opted for 60 hz. And again, if you have to intentionally seek out this info, then you can't expect them to be aware of it unless someone points it out to them before they do this review. None of the things you've criticized LTT for in this comment make any sense, you're just going on every video review you can for the device bitching about nexdock and begging for an audience.
@@millwyers ETA Prime is notorious for watering down literally anything bad about a company; just check his comments. The fact that he mentioned it at all shows he was aware that they switched it on customers.
You’re correct, Nexdock didn’t sponsor the video; that was my bad.
The fact still remains that LTT, with is 100+ employees, went out of their way to pick this specific product to “showcase” in a video. They absolutely have the resources to do homework on something they spend a non-trivial number of man-hours “researching,” pitching, procuring, shooting and editing. I’m sure I’d have gotten more traction if I’d watch and commented earlier than I had. LTT’s job is to inform and entertain. This video’s purpose is almost exclusively in the “inform” camp. It is reasonable for people to expect LTT to do their research as they go as far as to spend entire podcast segments calling out super niche companies that act in bad faith. People “bitching” is how they find out they fell short of their own standards they talk about all the time.
Kinda have to agree with the other guy. Yes, LTT vets their sponsors, but as pointed out, they didn't sponsor the video, and they couldn't know about these issues without specifically being made aware of them, because as you said they wouldn't know if they weren't looking for it. Given the circumstances you have every right to be upset, but getting upset and criticizing reviewers for not mentioning things they evidently aren't aware of isn't going to change anything.
Black cursor with no outline.. that's lunacy!
Android 15's revamped desktop mode takes one step closer to release
Android 15 QPR1 Beta 1 adds a new developer option to enable the revamped desktop mode, but it doesn’t work yet.
Help push it up the priority list guys
Hopefully the brings it to the pixel and more brands so more software becomes available and Google also makes it more friendly as a base.
I use Motorola Smart Connect and the main limit is the software. For normal office stuff it's fine. Able to use Solid Explorer (files) which is the best desktop one I've found and fan bring cloud, network and local storage all together.
Little things like drag and drop from non local storage into say gmail are the bits Google needs to work on etc.
2:21 Tactile bump ❄🔑
I've got the non XL model and I use it almost daily in my job, it a handy KVM for server and desktop troubleshooting or when I need to do a desktop transfer.
9:00 Much of the power draw of laptops in particular is the screen, yes you can get high end screens that sip juice, but then the device is going to be $500 more just for the screen
now i want to see Riley live with a NexDock for a month as his only computer
He'd have to actually bother learning about DeX for that to be at all worthwhile filming. He couldn't even figure out that you can change the cursor size and colour here...
I love a num pad, but the track pad to the side could be really good for avoiding carpal tunnel. I like it.
I really like it there too. Half the reason I didn't buy a new laptop and got a minipc and a portable monitor instead is that there aren't really any laptops with track pad not in the way!
Unless you're left-handed, then the whole thing is useless.
Why is this good? It's heavier than a lot of 14inch laptops and almost as expensive.
I remember seeing a what was called a "Folio" in a PC magazine over 10 years ago with a similar concept, except phones were inserted and doubled as the trackpad. For context if I remember correctly the same magazine had an article on an early 4K TV that cost over $400,000 USD.
Razr had a similar concept for their phone, iirc. It would have worked, but i think the market is so niche so it wasn't profitable. Also at this point, I'd rather have the phone mounted to use it as my webcam as well
Asus Padfone was the first I believe, but without the keyboard.
@@GeorgiBalabanovPadFone did not dock the phone as a trackpad, it docked the phone on the back of the screen making the phone useless. Terrible design.
I have flashbacks to Windows Continuum. I was so looking forward to that, the dream was to just give every one a phone and combine it with our Citrix environment. Oh well...
Riley strikes me as the kind of guy who always has hair product on his hands.
The dream is the one device to rule them all. I am liking the Fold series for that so far.
If Samsung ever lets DeX run natively on the inner display, it'll be perfect. There's a multi-year-old thread on the Samsung Members forum with hundreds of people asking for this but Samsung keeps ignoring it...
A TH-camr called Samuel Nam actually did replace his laptop with an S24 Ultra and he made a video of it.
If this is basically just a monitor and keyboard/hollow laptop, shouldn't there be space to put a battery with like three times that capacity in there when it doesn't have a full mainboard inside?
I've wanted my phone to replace my laptop for a long time. We are almost there
I want to it too, but we've been "Almost there" for a while. I don't think it will happen until a major player makes one.
I just want better battery life for my gaming laptop I don't like phones large enough to be impossible to use one handed but small enough to be a subpar video watching experience and poor cooling
@vincenzobrocato11there's no need to have Linux, devs just need to port applications to Android. Android already does all the things, unlike mobile Linux distros.
@vincenzobrocato11 Mobile Linux is absolutely awful at everyday phone functionality and has a completely uninspiring application library, especially for applications that function well on a phone. It's a lot more pragmatic to port desktop applications to Android than it is to continue trying to force mobile Linux to be a thing. Even then, the install base of mobile Linux is infinitesimal compared to Android, so you're still losing the battle for making it worth developers' time.
Honestly, we were closer in the Windows Mobile and Maemo days.
A week ago I was thinking that this will be the future of phone/laptops. 1 mobile device that you can pop into any laptop chassis via USB-C. Maybe the phone can be the touchpad while inserted.
DeX (and others) already does that - the phone can be used as a touchpad, as a keyboard, or you can continue using it as a phone while using DeX on the external display. This can be done with a wired or wireless connection.
FYI, Korea uses a similar power outlet as one used for EU but KR one is thicker and slightly narrower. EU plugs are usable in Korea but it will be little loose and can be break in harsh condition so be careful.
I have one already and I'm enjoying it. These are only going to get better
Why can’t they make a slot so you can just plug your phone in under the keyboard and then use the mobile phone screen as the touch pad?
phones aren't all the same size
Also, some have done this, but a glass screen is actually a terrible surface for a trackpad
So instead of having one product that works with every phone you need to create dozens of products to work with just the most popular current phones. The company should reach out to you for more ideas.
@@ferretsmilestbf, the most popular phones don't have either hdmi-out nor a desktop mode or both.
What would be am option is to make a partnership with Samsung to make an exclusive version for every new phone
I went on vacation recently and had my Asus portable monitor with me. It's a horrid display, but it was bigger than my phone, so I tried out Dex for the first time and I now fully believe in a future where your phone can be your only computer. But Dex has a long way to go for that to happen. The fact it uses mobile apps that require you to do extra touches to activate things (like you need to click on a youtube video in order to bring up the pause menu, you can't just hover over the video to have the pause button appear) but if that could be fixed (maybe I should use a browser and set the websites to desktop mode?) I would love to have something like this for casual use.
The biggest problem about all of this is that Samsung removed Linux on dex. Samsung is never going to invest enough money to their desktop environment as the ROI is small and it canaballises their Chromebook sales. But with Linux, not only is it outsourcing their work, it'll also be a selling point for enthusiast.
You can change the colour and size of the cursor in settings.
@@FFXfeverLinux on DeX never made sense. The whole point of DeX is to have access to the apps you're already using on mobile in a desktop environment. Running a Linux instance in a container alongside Android broke this functionality and made for a disjointed UX.
The solution is to continue to push devs to develop and port applications to Android natively (see Krita).
Besides, there's nothing stopping you from spinning up Linux on your own via Termux.
@@nickthaskater So you can, its buried pretty deep in the dex settings but it is there! Thanks
@@NavicNick always a good starting point to open settings and then seach for a key term. For example, I opened Settings in DeX and typed "pointer" and immediately it surfaced the options for pointer colour and size.
The idea is great - a laptop shell acting as a dock for your phone - but it places even greater emphasis on the lapdock's components to be good enough to be used across multiple phones (or other devices you dock with it). I'm not sure a 1080p 60Hz 300 nits display is good enough, when there's a fair number of phones (even cheap ones) out there that can exceed one of those 3 display specs.
It's also competing against Chromebooks - I just bought a new Chromebook with a 1200p display for $233 inc tax - significantly cheaper than this lapdock and doesn't need a second device to dock with it. What it really needs is a very modular approach like Framework has - easily repairable/upgradeable components so you can extend the life of the lapdock beyond the typical life on the phone you'll dock to it (which is now 4-5 years rather than 1-2 years).
Having used the NexDock kickstarter version - it never got firmware updates like they promised but it's an extremely useful device for setting up systems so I don't have to lug a full monitor and keyboard.
I really wish they'd focus on making these things *smaller* and *lighter*.
I live this dream as well... There is so much power in modern phones it just makes sense to add some better IO to them.
Ok, I love that LTT is big enough to sponsor their own videos, that’s pretty stinking cool.
Yo! Glad to see Riley is still alive.
I used to have an earlier model of this thing for work for a while. I mainly used it as a portable monitor, keyboard, and mouse when setting up PCs. Unfortunately, mine ran into a power issue of some kind and shorted itself out. The replacement did the same within a week. Now I just carry a cheap portable monitor and cheap wireless keyboard and trackbad combo unit. I much preferred the NexDock, but the thing was so fragile feeling to begin with and the failures ended up proving that true sadly.
I have the uPerfect version and I like it a lot. They are like the BEST IT debug tools you can have. Tests USB, display out as well. Especially if you have to fresh install windows. It's great. My biggest issue and I see it's not fixed in this one, the screen is heavier than the keyboard, so as soon as that screen hits 110 degrees or more, it's top heavy. Wished they'd up the brightness and resolution on these.
Have the uperfect too. Shame this thing has no way to rotate the screen. Option in the menu is there. Just does nothing
Isn’t the 1080p resolution the maximum video output even of high end smartphones? Last time I tried with a Samsung s23 ultra on a 4k display the output was 1080p.
@@gavatar1998 Maybe, but for other non SMARTPHONE applications, it would be nice to have the greater resolution.
If enough people share a dream, it becomes a reality. We are with you Riley!
There is absolutely nothing stopping me from hooking my Steam Deck up to this is there?
Power passthrough. Nexdock doesn't supply enough juice to the steam deck to keep it powered even if you plug it to the wall.
Man, I'm really into this whole phone-as-laptop idea! It's like sci-fi come to life! 😄 But honestly, I just hope they get the keyboard right one day. It always seems so cramped. Can't wait to see if these things actually catch on! 🚀
I very much look forward to the vid where you tell us that it works now.
+1 for the concept.
There is a setting to change the mouse pointer color and size inside the Dex Settings.
Why would you need wireless charging when the whole thing is about plugging your phone into it?
You can cast DeX wirelessly, too.
You can also use a universal laptop docking station, connect the USB C to your phone and use that with a normal keyboard, mouse and monitor setup. I have this dream too. Phones are so powerful, we don't really need big computers for mundane tasks anymore.
Somehow the Motorola Atrix 4g that I had solved this like 10 years ago. The phone had micro hdmi and micro usb side by side and the phone slotted into the dock. It worked perfectly. I later repurposed the lapdock as a raspberry pi laptop. It was dope. I too want the lapdock to live on. Thankyou Riley for fighting the fight.
Thank you for the honest review. I picked one if these up and while certainly not perfect, I too, have/share the dream of my phone being the only gadget I need.
One question: At 1:36 you mentioned that the usb A is 3.0. Can you please confirm this? That would be awesome, but I recall reading somewhere that is is 2.0.
Thanks again.
Could you turn a framework into this? Like get the frame and a USB c module, and then a adapter for the display? Fill the rest with battery.
Sounds like a cool project.
This seems like it would be a good accessory for a Windows handheld gaming computer, to help handle the Windows usability difficulties in these devices, it might even turn them into a practical everyday use computers.
So, how is the usability of this with an Ally X? Are there still issues with the touchpad?
The fundamental problem is that there will always be more friction using a phone as a tablet/PC than just using those dedicated devices. Even plugging in an extra cable is a miniscule effort that will add up on your nerves over time. Then you add trackpad issues, UI scaling and visibility issues, etc. (20% of the time my monitor just refuses to see DeX, gotta power cycle till it works)...I too dream of the magical "everything device" that works in any form factor, and it's great that it's technically possible, but for now a phone is just best at being a phone.
The friction you speak of is significantly mitigated by the fact that most are on their phone more often than not and being able to pick up right where you left off in DeX just by connecting to a monitor or lapdock makes for an exceptional workflow. I used DeX as my daily PC for 3 years and absolutely loved that aspect. It's far less friction than putting the phone away and logging into an entirely separate device, trying to pick up where I left off on my phone.
Most also already plug their laptop in at a desk to use peripherals like an external display, so this is no different in that sense.
a cool use case ive seen with the nexdock is lugging it around and using your phone to remote home into your main workstation. bypassing most of the main dex stuff for samsung other than maybe email and netflix or anything else youd use a streaming machine for
Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't they tested every Nexdock using DeX? I ask because I've always had issues with touch and mouse inputs with DeX. I normally use a Logitech K400 and using the touch pad on that has given me nothing but issues, which left me thinking it's the K400 that is the problem. I recently tried using my G502 mouse and dongle and still had issues. Turning off Wi-Fi helped, but didn't fix the issue.
Maybe it's not the Nexdock that's having these problems. I'd suggest giving it a shot with a Pixel, Motorola, RedMagic 8 or 9, or even the ASUS ROG phone to make sure it's not the Nexdock.
I had an ASUS Transformer back in the day (I carted that thing all around Afghanistan with me...) that I LOVED and this kiiiiinda has a similar sort of vibe. There was also a Motorola phone back a few years before that that had something like this, too...the Motorola Atrix? If I remember correctly? Either way, I thought it was a cool idea then and I still think it's a cool idea, but they gotta make it legit awesome to use, put a huge battery in it, and make it cheap. It'd be SUPER handy to toss in a bag for when you need to type something, want a bigger screen, need a battery boost, whatever, then if it gets lost or stolen or something, it wouldn't matter. Kinda like how Chromebooks started out.
I really want this, but I already hardly use my laptop. I'm either at home with my nice desktop PC or when I'm not, I got other things to do. But yeah, the dream needs to be kept alive! Honestly, if I was using my laptop a lot for "chromebook"-level tasks, I would absolutely try it. More than 1080p would be nice though - it's weird if my phone has a significantly higher resolution than the monitor it is connected to.
I've had a few of nexdocks products, I'm glad they improved the keyboard. As you said why in pete's sake is the trackpad still bargain parts bin? If only they would spend a few pennies or yuan more for a decent experience.
I've been looking for something like this, not for my phone, but for my GPD Win 3. I figure with this, I can now bring my gaming AND my work with me anywhere!
Good to see the dream of OS convergence still live and kickin! Gotta try out a Linux Phone on it, with KDE and Gnome doing a lot of work to make their apps work on both from my understanding!
Motorola had the Lapdock a decade ago. It's smaller & lighter. But it's only 1366x768, and one must source all kinds of weird cables. The best part it can be used as a KVM for any computing device... I still use mine.
I believe Uperfect has a Lapdock with none of those problems with trackpad and etc.
I also want this working well, always wanted something like these, but I think the smartphone just hanging around the dock is a horrible idea. Also add stylus support if you are doing a 2 in 1 lapdock.
The trackpad on UPerfect is exactly the same.
I tried the Next dock but felt like QC and quality was lacking. I initially had an issue with my package being lost and having it go missing for over a month going back and forth with the company asking for a replacement before they finally and reluctantly agreed to replace it. I lost my SD card in the chassis and had to tear my next dock apart to retrieve it. The advertised battery life was nowhere close to what I was seeing, even while using conservative settings. What ended up make me return it was the continuation high pitch whine from it when charging while the dock was on. It wouldnt do it when off and only got worse if I was charging my phone... With all this said. A very brief Google search shows the exact same unit you reviewed with different price points and manufacturers. Could LTT purchase these and do a side by side comparison and tear down to see if NextDock clones are of the same quality or is NextDock buying and rebranding the cheaper docks at a marked up premium price
All i can think about is using this with an Ayaneo or something similar to play games that require a keyboard, and instead of the touch pad, just bring a mouse
6:34 in the video.Riley son sees the video, of his dad talking about him believing about using a phone as a PC, and in the year 2090 they did."they did it dad, they finally did it...tho it still has gost clicks, and it has no support for vr" then he trashs it and connects his brain directly to the internet, because UI is for chumps.
Damn dude, looking good. Great review, thanks.
I'm 100% sold on this dream to have a one device solution. It's only a matter of time and effort.
Once Riley gives the "Go", buying one for me, and one for my kids.. I too want a NextDock.
finally a good review !!
good job !!
I like it, but I prefer plugging into AR glasses for high refreshrate.
Bluetooth keyboard and mouse,
So, a nearly completely clean setup.
Works even better with gamepad and streaming/emulation.
I’m sure everyone has had this exact idea before and I’m happy someone is actually attempting it, but I have to say, not having the phone dock below the keyboard and using it as a track pad is a huge oversight.
Thank god you’re not a product designer, that’s a horrible idea
I have one and I use it to connect and test my SBCs. I would love to upgrade if the wired connection would be recognized faster, most times I have to plug and unplug the mini HDMI until the connection gets recognized. Also it needs to be higher than 500nits and they need to drop the mini HDMI to full size
I'm kinda considering getting a nexdock? Not the XL, I don't need all the space, wireless charging, and IMO funky keyboard trackpad situation, but having a second screen for my Surface Go 3 that isn't a poor connection via duet display to an old crappy Chromebook or my small phone would be nice, alongside just having my phone on a larger screen sometimes as well.
Question is, for use with a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, does it actually provide enough power to the connected device to charge while in use or does it only provide like 5v 3A to charge a phone? I love the previous version as a screen for the two when I'm out and about, though I have to use HDMI to be able to keep the two charged while using the Nexdock and charging it at the same time. Really needs a two-cable solution. One to plug into the Nexdock, and the other to plug in to your phone/Steam Deck/Switch and provide higher watt PD to some degree.
That looked like a dream years ago. But if we're to be honest, at the price of storage on smartphone, the pace at which android (which is the main target) is becoming closed source, the increasing difficulty to run rooted roms, the removal of additional storage, the thermal package, the cooling abilities and the apps ecosystem in general, that won't happen unless we have a drastic change in hardware/software and manufacturer mentalities.
I still own a nexdock touch. Its not ideal but its excellent for when i need to configure some desktop side of steam deck. Another advantage with your phone and dex is at least here in the states hotspotting isnt unlimited data with most plans. Using a dock like this is a decent workaround. Disable trackpad and get a mouse. I think if you live a tech life. You probably can find good value out of these $300 device around the house.
This thing will become the next thing. It is sort of already there with Samsung Dex and the Fold phones but juuust a little bit more to go and it will boooom.
Just plug your phone into a usb hub that has hdmi and usb for peripherals and pass through charging only payed $60 for mine and i can get better fps on Fortnite with my s24ultra than with my ps4, and can use mouse and keyboard i dont notice any latency this way, or can bluetooth the ps4 controller straight to the phone with some latency
I picked up a nexdock last time around they reviewed one as a means to connect to servers. It works great for that, i dont have a better way to lug around screen/keyboard/mouse for phsyical server work.
I have been using my phone as my personal "laptop" for the past 5 years, I game on it, I do dev work on it, surf the web, view videos, edit images, I use it for remote connection to servers....
I'm saving for a foldable phone next because of how much I use the phone and how useful that extra screen could be
I would have bought one of this dock, if only it were available in my country
Been using my S21 Ultra with the NexDock touch as my main computer for a couple years now and I actually love it! (and yes, I watched this video on it! 😂) I've moved a lot of my stuff to cloud-based solutions, like Google Docs etc, and I also have ShadowPC to removtely connect to a wondows PC for the few things only Windows can do (namely gaming). But other than that I do most things on my S21 Ultra these days. Its certainly still got quirks, but there is something awesome about it that's really hard to explain. It's maybe not ready for the average user yet, but I do think this may become increasingly normal over the next five years or so.
does this work with a bluetooth mouse
I think the future will be like this.
When the horsepower of smartphone chips allows it, your smartphone will host full Windows/Macos images but with UI that will adapt to the requested screen size. iPhone for example will show the "iOS" UI we all know but when connected to a monitor will expand to full-fledged Macos, like Dex works now.
Same for Windows. Oh, and this way Windows Phone will make a come back. 😊
You could do another video comparing the experience of samsung dex vs motorola readyfor vs a windows handheld vs steamdeck... and maybe apple? Does ios have any support for this kind of mode?
But can it actively keep your phone charged while its connected to the NexDock via USB if the NexDock charger is also plugged in?! I got burnt by that issue when I bought the NexDock 360, not knowing its passthrough charging only outputs 850ma (or 4.25 watts)of current to the phone, which will NOT keep it charged while in use through the NexDock!
You like the brushed metal finish on here, a little fingerprinty. I like a more subdued, genuine Riley.
What i would be interested to know: What device between Gaming handheld and this will be charged, when connected via cable?
Holy schittss Riley, that's innovative as fuuuuuh...😮
I think the phone as PC thing won't really work smoothly as long as phone software is designed with the assumption that it'll be viewed through a phone screen.
However, something like this seems like a perfect partner for a handheld PC, a single item attaching with a single cable that gives you a full size keyboard and display.
The price would have to go down significantly before it would look like a better option than a dock, usb keyboard, and conventional portable display though.
I have the unbranded uperfect version which is 120hz ips and the touch pad and keyboard are great.
You can change the cursor colour and size.
I remember the 1st iteration of this idea on the Motorola ATRIX. I had it. It was really quite awesome. Nvidia Tegra Processor, dual OS on the phone of Android and Linux and the Laptop Dock as it was called was awesome. the tech for the time it had to connect with micro USB and Micro HDMI. But the concept worked. Sadly the demand was never there. But i had one.
Better value prop than framework, if the battery is replaceable?
1:16 And Brazil! Pretty similar at least
Wouldn't the wireless mode be more efficient if the phone was closer (such as where the magnetic charging port was)? Although, it is interesting it can work a little distance away.
I missed the boat for Linux on Dex but if they brought that back I'd be all over it. Even just let us install Flatpaks
So, the LTT laptop bag seems like almost any other laptop bag I’ve ever seen or used. Cool.
Hey brother!Can you help me with a question since you know far more than me?I prioritize ANC and comfort and I have these options;(edifier WH950NB, sony wh750b, 1more sonoflow, anker soundcore q30 and space one)what option is better?you can sugest something else if you know 😊
Brings back memories of the Motorola Lapdock I had. Still got it somewhere.
9:15 But there is your phone plugged in which does the computing. And it's getting charged over the NexDock.
1. I'm into the dream, but not at that price for a 1080P screen with only 60Hz refresh rates.
2. Android 15 Beta has apparently unlocked USB-C to Display Port on Pixel 7 and up phones. They are also working on their desktop mode which you might have to force on in the developer settings.
3. The NexDock should incorporate a divot in the bottom to allow seamless Raspberry Pi integration so you can use it as a thin client/desktop while phone desktop modes continue to mature.
I use uperfect dock with my z fold 3 and now fold 6 all the time. Now the speakers are crap but everything else works. Use goodlock to modify the dex mouse pointer.