In early 2016 installing Android on the PC suddenly made sense. Not thanks to Google, but to a small company called Jide Technology that announced Remix OS. That operating system, based on Android 5.1.1, turned Google’s mobile platform into one that could also make sense on the desktop. Why Android OS on PC not successful.
That project died, but today we have some alternatives that try to show that this convergence between mobile and desktop is possible. Samsung DeX and the desktop mode of Huawei phones have become striking options. There was even rumored a possible official desktop mode on Android, but everything has remained in borage water and many do not (we just) understand why .
Around with the convergence
The idea of convergence is not new. Several companies have tried this in the past and failed . Canonical did it with Ubuntu Touch, Microsoft did it with Windows 10 for their mobiles (or those of HP, with its Elite X3 ) and universal applications and others like Samsung and Huawei have remained in a curious proposal but that does not just grow.
Those proposals seemed to pale before Remix OS , an operating system derived from Android that mixed the options of this mobile platform with elements typical of a desktop operating system. The window manager and the behavior of the interface itself invited us to think that we were facing a system that could rival Windows 10, macOS or Linux. It did not. At least not at all.
Why”desktop mode” and raising an Android for PC seems a lost opportunity for Google
In early 2016 installing Android on the PC suddenly made sense . Not thanks to Google, but to a small company called Jide Technology that announced Remix OS. That operating system, based on Android 5.1.1, turned Google’s mobile platform into one that could also make sense on the desktop.
That project died, but today we have some alternatives that try to show that this convergence between mobile and desktop is possible. Samsung DeX and the desktop mode of Huawei phones have become striking options. There was even rumored a possible official desktop mode on Android, but everything has remained in borage water and many do not (we just) understand why .
Around with the convergence
The idea of convergence is not new. Several companies have tried this in the past and failed . Canonical did it with Ubuntu Touch, Microsoft did it with Windows 10 for their mobiles (or those of HP, with its Elite X3 ) and universal applications and others like Samsung and Huawei have remained in a curious proposal but that does not just grow .
Those proposals seemed to pale before Remix OS , an operating system derived from Android that mixed the options of this mobile platform with elements typical of a desktop operating system. The window manager and the behavior of the interface itself invited us to think that we were facing a system that could rival Windows 10, macOS or Linux. It did not. At least not at all.
For starters, not all applications were prepared to take advantage of these benefits: some opened in non-resizable windows that weighed down the experience and confused users, while other powerful options on desktop systems lagged behind. Remix OS had somewhat limited performance , and its native applications and multitasking options were also worse than those of current desktop systems.
At Jide Technologies they tried to go further and even created teams based on this proposal. Even Acer and AOC launched into the adventure, but that proposal did not work and the company ended up abandoning Remix OS as such to focus on companies . Since then we have heard little or nothing about a project that has been disappearing from the map.
Samsung and Huawei try, but timidly
The Remix OS approach fell by the wayside, but it applied a curious concept contrary to that adopted by Microsoft and Canonical. They tried to adapt a desktop operating system (Windows, Ubuntu) to one that would work well on mobiles.
That didn’t work, but the opposite idea of Remix OS – bringing Android, a mobile platform, to the desktop – did seem to make more sense. We have seen how it is in fact what both Samsung and Huawei have applied with their technologies to be able to have a “PC mode” : when we connect the mobile to an external monitor, a mouse and a keyboard, the device detects it and allows us to change to that desktop mode and work as if we were doing it more or less with a desktop PC.
The features are still not those provided by conventional desktop operating systems, but for light work sessions these systems can be surprisingly valid and also allow us to enjoy the applications of our smartphone with keyboard and mouse – which is sometimes very convenient – instead of with the touch interface.
Samsung even went a step further and came to offer Linux on DeX , turning their mobiles into small computers in which to work with a basically 100% functional Ubuntu . The idea was great, but it suddenly ceased to exist: Samsung announced two years later that it no longer supported such capacity, in part because of somewhat more limited performance than expected.
Since then there have been updates to support for these features, but none particularly notable. Samsung is the one that is investing the most in it and since the last version allows Windows 10 and macOS to coexist with the Android applications of their mobiles, in addition to supporting a wireless DeX that no longer needs cables.
That DeX mode actually makes special sense in Samsung tablets, which thanks to this option become alternatives to the laptop by connecting a keyboard with touchpad, an accessory that makes them compete with Apple’s iPad or Microsoft’s Surface , but with its own software proposal. Huawei and its desktop mode is also striking, although the company does not promote it as much as Samsung.
Apple is mixing iOS with macOS slowly but inexorably
While all this is happening, Apple, which seemed not to want to move a tab and has always defended the validity of its dual model (on the one hand iOS and its mobile devices, on the other macOS and its Macs) has been bringing both extremes closer and closer.
The “iosification” of macOS and the “macosification” of iOS (or rather, of iPadOS) have been evident for years: features such as the Dock or the iPadOS file explorer (not to mention the mouse support) and the new macOS BigSur widgets and interface demonstrate those mixed transitions.
Those processes could go further, especially now that Apple abandons the Intel chips in its Macs to move to its own chips based on the ARM architecture. Those future machines are going to be based on macOS, but there will be several tools (such as Catalyst, virtualization or Rosetta 2) that will allow that hardware transition to be smooth.
The question is whether all of this is leading us into a future where an iPhone can become a Mac. The concept is partly a reality with iPads, which were born with the sanmbenito of being a “big iPod” and have ended up wanting to be much more with the iPad Pro and its new approach to productivity. The iPadOS operating system is perhaps the best indication of that possible future, but at the moment it seems difficult that Apple is going to take such a radical step.
Why is Google not moving tab?
And while I come across a Google where desktop mode seems like an idea that comes and goes . There was a lot of talk about how it was going to be implemented in Android 10 , and we even saw terminals like the LG V50 that implemented that option.
That option ended up being hidden from users, and the subject has not been discussed again by Google, which has other news in Android 11 prepared . This platform will officially reach some terminals in the fall, but again without seeming to have references to a hypothetical desktop mode.
What is the reason that there is no support for that option? It is true that Google has an alternative to Windows 10 or macOS in Chrome OS , but it is so in a very limited way, not very accessible outside of the manufacturers that offer it. It’s true that anyone can actually install it via Chromium OS or commercial offerings like CloudReady , but again it’s not a particularly widespread option.
What is widespread is the use of Android OS: its global market share is overwhelming, so why doesn’t Google take advantage of that inertia to have a “desktop Android”?
The thing makes even more sense if we consider that with Apple’s movement, other proposals based on ARM microphones may end up trying to propose alternatives to the “Wintel” world. It does not seem difficult to think of an alternative world “ARMdroid” that takes advantage of all the wealth of the Android catalog at the touch of a mouse and keyboard, so the question remains:
What are you waiting for, Google?
