Considering buying a new smartphone an installing GrapheneOS. If I'm not wrong, with a smartphone with USB type C 3.1 like any modern Google Pixel, I would be able to go on Desktop Mode, like Samsung Dex. Is this feature embedded on Android AOSP or would be an issue on GrapheneOS?
Desktop mode like Samsung DEX
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Google Pixels don't appear to have the ability to do USB-C HDMI output. It's unclear if it's a hardware limitation, a feature that needs to simply be toggled, and/or lack of support in AOSP. No one has researched and experimented with it. For now, you will need to utilise something like DisplayLink. See https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/2865484?hl=en
This would indeed be a great thing to see. That, coupled with a proper desktop mode (which seems to be slowly getting developed) would make GrapheneOS very daily drivable as a laptop replacement for office work.
Ultimately, it's up to Google to properly support this. It seems out of scope for GrapheneOS, despite the fact that it would be a great feature to implement.
Some more things to consider:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaCH-FidWOo
(Chrome OS vs. Samsung DeX: Which Is Better For You? - from Chrome Unboxed)
I'm having a hard time believing google would officially support a desktop mode. It would cannibalize Chromebook sales.
Hope I'm wrong 🤣
GrapheneOS has the experimental desktop mode exposed in Developer Options and it will be improved upon in Android 13.
Google apparently disabled the Pixel 4's DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB-C right in the kernel source code
https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/msm/+/184170bea097dec34b9871fc724dcac9b5989427%5E%21/#F0
game4hr It's not known if that's because the hardware doesn't support it or because it is an artificial limitation
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Entirely possible they disabled it because people were plugging it in and because lack of support it caused issues. No one knows until they start doing some testing and trial and error but no one's doing that and are just focusing on theories. Would be a lot more helpful and beneficial for people to start doing trial and error and experimentation instead of coming up with things like "Google just wants to sell Chromebooks" or whatever kind of weird stuff.
flawedworld - I would like to experiment with this mode in developer options. I am looking into picking up a HDMI to C cable. Would my P6 Pro support a cable that uses 'DP Alt Mode'? Any advice is appreciated since I don't want to buy a cable if it's unsupported.
Would it be possible for the GOS devs to remove that kernel restriction to test this? Most of us don't have the worked out routine environment to do this without a major hassle.
flawedworld has anyone in the GOS community got this working to any degree?
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chock-a-block From what I understand, it's far more limited than Samsung DEX. I believe that option allows you to only mirror the phone screen to another screen.
The Pixel 8 series might come with a desktop mode. If that is true and GOS supports it as well, this would be an easy sell for me.
Use scrcpy, vysor, anlink, or airdroid
As far as I can tell, Google did not announce a desktop mode with Pixel 8. Does anyone know if there is any further evidence of this feature in Android 14?