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Comment by hwc | Hacker News Reader

If Android is getting desktop windowing, how long until I can just plug my phone into a monitor and keyboard and have a usable computer?

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It feels like we're getting very close. The recent addition of a Debian VM into Android (I believe it's even in AOSP) leads me to believe we'll be getting Linux apps on Android in the same way ChromeOS gets them. Imagine being able to run VSCode off your phone anywhere you can plug into a monitor.

I also think we'll get a more desktop ready version of Chrome. If we get these things I think it'll be a gamechanger.

I already can run vim on my phone. That's enough for me.

You can plug a keyboard and mouse into your Andriod phone for many years. I haven't had one work with a monitor yet, though.

It almost works. But the monitor just mirrors the phone, including its weird aspect ratio and font size.

It's almost usable for playing movies on a TV, but that's about it.

You could do that for years with Samsung phones already.

No, you can't. There's no usable desktop software that you can run there. Artificial restrictions will stay, although might be slightly relaxed. In contrast with Librem 5 running GNU/Linux (my daily driver) this is already a reality.

This is just weird goal post moving.

I don't think so, this has always been the limitation and why things like Windows ARM and Windows Phone fail over and over again. The interface part is easy, I guess, the application part is not. If you can figure out the application part, then you have a real shot at disrupting the market.

So far, only Apple has figured out the applications part on MacOS, and only partially. They still have wierdo iPadOS. Microsoft is doing Windows on ARM... again. We'll see how long that lasts.

Why do you need mobile, touch-friendly apps on a large screen (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44241666)? How are you using them?

You could do that for even more years with Motorola phones already.

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