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By now, you've probably seen the news that the latest beta version of Android 16 includes the first iteration of a true desktop mode. The ability to plug your phone into a monitor and get a PC-like experience has been a dream for many Android users for years - including myself.
While there are a million questions about what this means for the future of Android and even ChromeOS, we wanted to cut through the speculation, get it up and running, and show you what this new feature actually looks and feels like in its current state. After a bit of tinkering, we have it working, and while it shows a ton of promise, it also makes it very clear that ChromeOS isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Read more: https://chromeunboxed.com/hands-on-with-android-16s-new-desktop-mode-why-chromeos-isnt-going-anywhere/
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
There's a good chance that by now you've
0:01
seen that the latest version of Android,
0:03
Android 16 that just shipped a few weeks
0:06
back uh came with the ability to
0:08
actually utilize this new Android
0:10
desktop that Google is working on. And
0:13
while there are a thousand questions
0:14
around what the implications are for
0:16
this particular feature in Android 16,
0:19
we wanted to just give it a ride and see
0:21
what it looks like right now at this
0:23
point. There's a couple things you got
0:24
to do to get it working, but we wanted
0:26
to show it to you. uh show you some of
0:28
the cool things that it's already doing
0:30
and hopefully show you why it is that we
0:32
just don't really think that uh Chrome
0:34
OS is going anywhere anytime soon.
0:38
[Music]
0:41
But before we get into all that, if
0:42
you're into Android and tablets and
0:45
Chromebooks, there's a good chance that
0:47
you would be interested in the sponsor
0:49
for today's video, EIP. They have a new
0:51
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0:53
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0:55
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0:57
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0:59
pens that can accidentally activate and
1:01
drain their battery in your bag, this
1:03
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1:05
ensuring that your stylus is ready when
1:06
you are when it's time to top up. The
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delivers an excellent riding experience
1:15
with 4,96 levels of pressure, uh,
1:18
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1:20
natural input, and it's all wrapped in
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this really unique and stylish looking
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titanium gold finish for this really
1:27
premium look and feel. As a bonus, the
1:29
stylus also includes a tail eraser and a
1:31
selection button that are compatible
1:33
with popular apps like Squid, giving you
1:35
extra functionality where it's
1:37
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1:38
interesting to you, you can learn more
1:40
and get one for yourself via the link
1:42
down in the description. All right, so
1:45
let's just hop in and try this. Uh, it's
1:47
not something I've really messed around
1:48
with too much. I've seen some videos
1:50
about it. There are a couple settings
1:51
you need to do. We do have the Pixel 9
1:53
Pro XL here. I'm unsure of which uh
1:57
version of Pixel they've, you know, made
1:58
this work on. Uh, I'm pretty sure the
2:00
Pixel 8 supports uh display out, but
2:03
obviously if it doesn't support display
2:04
out, this doesn't work. But for sure,
2:06
Pixel 9 series phones will work with
2:07
this functionality. But we're going to
2:09
plug it in. Uh I'm going to show you
2:11
kind of the developer options cuz you
2:12
have to get to the beta uh version of
2:15
Android 16. So you have to go to the
2:17
Android website and opt into the beta.
2:19
You'll get an OTAA over the air update
2:22
like you would for a normal update.
2:23
That'll get you onto that beta. Once
2:25
you're there, I'm going to show you
2:26
those settings that you need to set up
2:28
uh in order to get this all working.
2:30
We'll do that all on camera and then uh
2:32
we'll just kind of take a look and see
2:34
what Google's put together here. All
2:35
right, so we've got everything set up
2:37
here. It goes without saying that in
2:39
order to connect your Pixel to some sort
2:41
of display, you're going to need a
2:42
dongle or something like that, something
2:44
that's going to take USBC to HDMI. So,
2:46
we do have it hooked up through that.
2:48
Um, and we're going to leave um the the
2:50
main, this is just the standard pixel
2:52
mirroring mode. We're going to leave it
2:54
up here just so it's easy for you all to
2:55
see um what we're doing here. So, uh,
2:58
let me get out of there. And I don't
3:01
need to be in here either. Again, as you
3:04
can tell, um, trying to mess around with
3:07
Android is just not the best um, in
3:11
mirrored mode uh, with a mouse just cuz
3:13
it's kind of difficult to do. So, I'll
3:15
pull this down. We're going to get to
3:17
our settings. And so, here's what you
3:18
got to do in order to get this going.
3:19
So, you're going to need to go to do
3:21
your to your developer options. And if
3:24
you're in the beta, they're already
3:25
turned on. So, you don't have to worry
3:26
about that. And then the quickest way to
3:28
get down, it's all the way at the
3:29
bottom. But in case this moves by the
3:31
time you're looking at this, uh, if you
3:32
just type window
3:34
enable nonresizable in multi-wind, it's
3:37
going to take you to the section where
3:38
all these are. So told you it's almost
3:40
at the bottom. So under window
3:42
management, for some reason, if I search
3:44
this, I don't get here, unfortunately.
3:47
So I'm going to turn all of these guys
3:48
on. Okay. Uh, reboot is going to be
3:51
required here um for free form stuff. So
3:54
we obviously need to do that to continue
3:56
the video. So I'm going to do that. will
3:57
cut away. Be right back. All right, we
3:59
are back up and running. And admittedly,
4:01
we had some issues. Uh I think I went a
4:04
little bit too quickly after the reboot
4:05
plugging in the USBC dock uh to connect
4:08
to the monitor. Um we had some like
4:10
rolling screen issues. Again, this is
4:12
all in beta, so you're going to run into
4:13
stuff like that. Just kind of give it
4:14
another try. Uh we decided to try a
4:17
couple times and eventually it just
4:18
popped up and it's working. So, um I
4:20
want to show you a couple of things that
4:22
that I noticed um pretty early on. And
4:25
one of those is up top you've got very
4:27
tiny icons you may not even be able to
4:29
see on the camera. Um I'm guessing
4:32
Google's going to do something with
4:33
those eventually. Right now they don't
4:35
do anything. I think they're
4:36
notifications. Like I can almost not see
4:38
what these are, but there's time over
4:40
here and there's like battery and stuff.
4:41
Same stuff you'd have up top on a tablet
4:43
or something. I'm assuming you'll be
4:45
able to pull your notifications from
4:46
here or they're going to move all of
4:47
this stuff down here. I like Chrome OS
4:49
at some point. Uh because I don't think
4:51
eventually you'll need your back home
4:53
and multitask buttons. But we'll get
4:55
into those here in just a second. Um,
4:58
real quick before I kind of move off of
4:59
this, uh, if you go to
5:01
google.com/android/ba,
5:04
that's where you would actually opt in
5:05
for this. You can see that my Pixel 9 is
5:08
has already been opted in obviously, but
5:10
you you can opt out and it'll send you
5:11
the OTAA to send you back to the
5:13
standard version of Android, but you
5:16
just you would see your devices here. If
5:17
you're logged in, you click opt in, you
5:19
get the OTAA, you get it updated, no big
5:21
deal. Um, but as you can see, here's
5:23
Chrome in a floating window. I can
5:24
resize this as I see fit. Uh, and it
5:27
doesn't, you know, fight or grumble. Um,
5:29
I can take these windows to either side
5:31
and I can I can pop them um kind of kind
5:34
of like Chrome OS, you know, uh, half
5:36
size. And let me open um, let me pop
5:39
that one there. And then we'll just open
5:42
what can we do? Let's go with Fitbit.
5:44
Why not? So, go over here. Not been
5:46
using my Pixel Watch lately, so there's
5:48
no info there. But, um, if I drag these,
5:51
obviously that works nicely. Oops.
5:55
Uh, and getting everything resized,
5:56
which is pretty cool. And then they kind
5:58
of hang together, uh, in the overview
6:00
mode. And some weird animations there.
6:03
But if I click here, you can see it says
6:06
it almost is like it's doing like a
6:07
virtual desk kind of thing, which is
6:09
which is pretty cool. Um, I like seeing
6:11
that. So, there's maps. Let's go back
6:14
over here. And it's hanging on to them.
6:16
That's kind of cool. Um, here's the
6:19
issue I saw with this. So, now that I'
6:21
I've kind of focused on this one, if I
6:22
go here, oh, it actually kept them here.
6:25
Like, it was rearranging them kind of
6:26
like it would your your most recent
6:28
apps, but clearly they're going to use
6:30
uh overview mode as like virtual
6:32
desktops, which that's going to be
6:33
pretty amazing, too, cuz inside this
6:35
desktop, obviously, hopefully there'll
6:37
be backgrounds here eventually. But I
6:39
can kind of, you know, get my my, uh,
6:41
apps arranged how I want to. And then
6:43
hopefully it'll be a shortcut key or
6:45
something where I could, you know, move
6:46
back and forth between these things. And
6:48
so, um, that stuff's kind of sort of
6:50
working here as well, which is kind of
6:51
cool. Um, and then obviously, you know,
6:54
your your launcher here has all of your
6:56
applications in there just as you'd
6:58
expect them to be. And and ultimately, I
7:01
mean, I've got the ability to to float
7:03
windows around and reorganize them. And
7:05
I don't know what the home button would
7:07
do. Let's see. Let me go to this desk
7:09
and click home. Yeah. So, it's not doing
7:12
anything. My guess is they'll just get
7:13
rid of these. Um, and maybe they'll have
7:15
some sort of gesture that you can do for
7:17
back. The main hangup right now and
7:19
using this, uh, a would be there's no
7:21
background, which just looks really
7:23
stark and and gross. Um, it'd be neat if
7:26
it just pulls your wallpaper over here,
7:27
but secondly, it's probably hard for you
7:29
all to see. Um, but the text is very,
7:32
very difficult to read. Now, granted,
7:34
this is a quad HD screen. Uh, but you
7:36
know, the Pixel 9 XL or Pixel 9 Pro XL
7:39
is a quad HD phone, so it should be kind
7:42
of one to one thing. Um, but I'm sure
7:44
resolution settings are not quite dialed
7:47
in yet. So, all the text on screen looks
7:49
pretty blurry. So, this would be a bit
7:51
fatiguing to work for uh for any uh
7:53
extended period of time. Now, of course,
7:55
the obvious comparisons start coming
7:57
into Chrome OS and Android desktop now.
8:00
And as they keep working on this, like
8:01
what are the differences? What are the
8:03
benefits? And I don't think you have to
8:04
look at this too hard to realize like
8:06
right now at least for the the time
8:08
being and probably for the foreseeable
8:09
future uh working like actually getting
8:12
laptop stuff done is going to be a whole
8:14
lot better on a Chromebook than it's
8:16
going to be trying to make this work.
8:17
Now over time I think what we're going
8:19
to see is the two uh coming closer and
8:21
closer together. So as the Android
8:23
kernel takes place on Chromebooks we'll
8:25
start to see you know some of the
8:27
features um have a lot of parody between
8:30
the two of them. I think we'll we'll see
8:32
those things coming together. Whether or
8:33
not this kind of experience is ever
8:35
going to show up on a Chromebook or a
8:38
Chromebook's experience is ever going to
8:39
show up on Android that who knows
8:41
exactly what Google has planned with
8:43
those kind of things. But I mean, for
8:45
right now, you know, there's no
8:46
extensions in this version of Chrome.
8:48
There's the weird extra bar up here for
8:50
the for your tabs. You can't go and
8:52
inspect the page. Right clicking doesn't
8:54
work the way you'd expect it to on
8:56
basically anything. Hey, that one kind
8:58
of worked. Uh, yeah, I could kind of
9:01
rightclick that one. So, I mean, stuff's
9:03
just not laid out there, but I think
9:06
they're they're on the right path to, I
9:08
think, make this experience a lot closer
9:11
to what a Chromebook would be. And then,
9:12
again, as they learn more from that,
9:14
they can use some of that stuff to make
9:15
Chrome OS better. But I don't think in
9:18
the near term anyway, that there's any
9:21
concern right now for uh Android phones,
9:24
specifically Pixels, like coming and
9:26
taking over for Chromebooks. I think
9:28
they serve two distinct purposes and and
9:31
this could be something you could use
9:32
maybe when you're in a pinch. But
9:33
overall, like right now at least, this
9:35
is just a fun thing to look at and kind
9:37
of see where they're at with this kind
9:38
of stuff. And and again, don't don't
9:40
hear me saying, "Oh, this doesn't work.
9:42
That doesn't work." And so this is crap
9:43
because it's that's not what I'm saying
9:45
at all. U this is just really early.
9:47
This is very much beta. And it's not
9:49
something that if you're looking at a
9:50
Pixel phone, it should be in like the
9:52
list of your features you're you're
9:54
excited to use right now because it's
9:55
just it's barely usable right now. But
9:58
it's really cool to see what Google's
9:59
doing with Android Desktop right now. I
10:02
think there there is definitely a future
10:04
for this. Um I think Hey, look at there.
10:06
It pulled out kind of sort of. Uh I
10:08
think there's a future for this. I think
10:10
there's uh potential here. And obviously
10:12
as someone who's always wished to be
10:14
able to have a desktop uh on my phone
10:16
when I plug it in. I think the closer
10:18
this gets to Chrome OS uh the better.
10:20
And we know that there's an Android
10:22
desktop or an Android Chrome for desktop
10:24
in the works uh that has extensions and
10:26
all that stuff. So all of these things I
10:28
think are going to like just coalesce
10:30
over the next I don't know probably 12
10:32
to 18 months but it's going to take
10:34
time. So yeah jump in here and play with
10:36
this if you kind of want to see where
10:37
Google's going. But ultimately I just
10:40
don't know that this is something that
10:41
anyone's going to use like actually use
10:43
day in and day out at the moment. But uh
10:46
the development is definitely coming
10:48
along and it's uh it's a fun future to
10:50
think about. But that's it for this one
10:52
guys. If you enjoyed this video, give us
10:53
a thumbs up. Head down there, hit that
10:55
subscribe button, and be sure to ring
10:56
the notification icon as well if you'd
10:58
like to be alerted when we make future
11:00
videos just like this one. Until next
11:01
time, we'll see you.
11:03
[Music]
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