Original topic:

Samsung DeX - First Thoughts

(Topic created on: 08-11-2017 11:53 AM)
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SnowCat19
Options
Galaxy S
First of all I want to give a special shout out to @Nick and Samsung, Thank you for sending me the new Samsung DeX station. I have only had a chance to play with it a bit, so these are my first thoughts.

1. When I docked my Samsung S8 into the DeX, it started up real fast, and was really cool. I plugged a wireless Logitech USB Dongle for my keyboard and mouse, it connected and paired right away, so there was no issues with that.
First impression, I was using this on a 20'' monitor and the resolution was really small. I cant really see anything, everything is small, when I open my apps like the browser, or my messages app, everything was so small to read. Also the DeX did not take up the full screen, you have to manually over scale your monitor to make the DeX full screen which then reduces the quality.

2. One thing I noticed right away, was there was definitely some lag. It was not as responsive as I thought it would be..opening app, typing, switching apps...you do not feel like you are using a Galaxy S8, as there is a small buffer time when trying to multi task.

3. Messaging, when I was using Samsung Messages to send text messages, well as hard it was already to read anything unless going super close to my monitor, there is a delay when typing. When you press enter on the keyboard, it does not send the message, but jumps to next line.
Basically you have to type your message, and then use your mouse and click send...seems a bit inconvenient. I am wondering if there is a way to have enter click send.

4. I am sure this is just a setting, but when hovering your mouse over an app or icon, after a few seconds, the app opens without even clicking on it. I would like it so you can hover your mouse over an icon, and nothing happens until you double click it. This is super frustrating. When I click on my notifications to bring down all my notifications, just hovering over something will "click" on it, so if I have a vociemail, and my mouse it over it for a second or two, it will call my voicemail even if I dont click on it...Really hope there is a way to disable this.

Those are the only cons I have found so far, alot of pros. Its nice to have your Samsung docked and charging battery, (although it is just normal cable charging even though I am using a adaptive fast charger to power the DeX)
Its nice to quickly use your monitor to open the browser and get full web experience, not a mobile view. The camera still works while the S8 is docked.

Overall I am quite impressed with the DeX as no one else has anything similar. I feel it is a bit over priced, and this would only be for people who work in the office from a desktop PC and there phone at the same time cus it is really good for emails on your phone.
One thing that needs to be improved is the speed of DeX. It is just too laggy when working, and of course the resolution. I dont see anyway to zoom, or change the resolution on the DeX. Only on the monitor settings.

Then again I haven't really had a chance to go through all the settings and what not. If anyone else has the DeX please feel free to add your own feedback as well,

thanks everyone, and thanks again Samsung!! You Guys ROCK!!
18 Comments
sikhness
Active Level 6
Galaxy S
Man I would love to try out Samsung Dex too but I don't have the dock myself ☹. Coming from a Microsoft Lumia 950XL, I've been used to using Continuum to get things done with a mouse and keyboard on your phone!
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ZenoKnite
Active Level 7
Galaxy S
Nice review. My one gripe about Dex is I get freezes and system process has stopped running errors. Then I'd have to reboot my phone. This would be from resizing and moving windows around. No idea why this happens but it's pretty crappy. Also if you restart your phone while docked in Dex. You won't be able to enter in your password until you shut your screen off or let it time out once, before trying.
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Jmak
Active Level 10
Galaxy S
Try resetting samsung Dex home from apps. Clear cache and data. I have not yet experienced freezes or lags yet. Runs all my streaming app with no problem. I use twitch tv app where video runs at 1080p and there is a heavy chatter between 12k+ people. Also I run optimize from general maintainance for faster experience.
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ZenoKnite
Active Level 7
Galaxy S
Alrite I'll give it a shot and see if it makes a difference. It's also possible that developer mode is causing the errors as well
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Galaxy S
Hey all,

sorry I didnt have a chance to do another follow up review this weekend, and all I have tried it on was my work monitor. I had a funeral this weekend, so it was a really devastating weekend. But I will be playing around with the DeX more sometime this week on my TV, and a few other monitors and see how it works. Thanks again everyone!
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Moderator_
Moderator
Moderator
Options
Galaxy S
Hey @SnowCat19, thanks for the detailed review and glad to hear that you're overall enjoying it!

-Nick
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Galaxy S
thanks again for sending it out @Nick. I tried it at my home monitor and its not laggy at all...so maybe it could just be my old decade monitors at work that caused it lol
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Jmak
Active Level 10
Galaxy S
@Nick thank man I really love my DeX!!
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TopDog1
Active Level 3
Galaxy S
Great review... I'm thinking about getting Dex and this might be a clincher
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