Which phone-powered PC expertise is healthier?

I’ve been having fun with Google’s new Pixel Desktop Mode on my Pixel 10 Professional XL these days, a lot in order that it nearly makes the world of smartphones really feel new once more. Nonetheless, Google is much from the primary to mix smartphone and desktop experiences below one roof. US shoppers have had entry to Samsung’s DeX setting since 2017, and it has step by step improved the platform with varied new options which have set a excessive bar for Google’s new system to satisfy.

If something, it’s stunning that it’s taken Google simply this lengthy to provide you with its personal tackle the system. However how do they evaluate? I’ve spent a while making an attempt out on a regular basis desktop duties on each platforms to assist reply the query: What are the variations between Pixel Desktop and Samsung DeX, and which one is greatest?

Earlier than moving into the options, there’s one core distinction between these two desktop platforms. Pixel Desktop Mode runs the very same Android system that powers the telephone interface, merely rendering a second windowing setting on the exterior show. Apps run in the identical OS occasion, however Android’s native window supervisor permits them to seem in resizable home windows on the bigger display screen.

Samsung DeX takes a distinct strategy. Reasonably than counting on Android’s new default desktop-style windowing, Samsung layers its personal desktop interface on high of Android by One UI. Apps nonetheless run in the identical Android OS occasion, however Samsung replaces a lot of the system’s window administration and UI habits with its personal desktop shell. This barely totally different structure leads to a couple delicate variations within the expertise, which we’ll get into in a minute, however the finish consequence continues to be a local Android desktop expertise.

Fortunately, getting began with both desktop choice is equally simple. Each platforms assist DisplayPort output through USB-C, and you’ll simply join up through HDMI by a dongle adapter. Nonetheless, older Samsung fashions had a number of different methods to attach, equivalent to a DeX cable or Wi-fi DeX, which the Pixel doesn’t have.

The telephones I used assist energy pass-through and hassle-free plug-and-play assist for Bluetooth and USB keyboard and mice. For sure, I had no drawback getting began with both, and each serve precisely the identical goal at a fast look.

Sticking with peripherals for a second, each desktop environments assist the identical Bluetooth peripherals as in cellular mode, so you’ll be able to preserve your earbuds paired when switching between modes. I additionally plugged in a microSD card, a USB stick, and a USB SSD exterior storage machine, all of which had been detected immediately with out problem, permitting you to port work round very simply.

Likewise, when booting into Samsung DeX or Pixel Desktop Mode, you’re greeted with a really acquainted desktop look on each platforms. The 2 interfaces place a customizable dock of apps alongside the underside, full with an app drawer, and Android’s basic three navigation buttons. The one distinction is that DeX positions these on the left and Pixel on the correct. The 2 platforms additionally assist as much as 4 separate desktop environments as properly, so you’ll be able to preserve even the busiest multi-tasking setups so as.

Maybe a very powerful issue is how the 2 desktop modes deal with working your normal array of Android apps, and once more, the expertise could be very comparable. Google has pushed builders to assist a wider vary of facet ratios in recent times, out of your normal telephone portrait to wider foldable and pill UIs. Pixel Desktop Mode leverages these choices, mechanically refreshing the UI to suit probably the most relevant mode once you resize your window. DeX works in a really comparable method, permitting you to resize home windows to no matter dimension and adapting the UI the place attainable.

Nonetheless, not each app has been up to date to assist the broader vary of UI choices obtainable in at the moment’s Android ecosystem. Within the previous days, DeX used to place older apps into fastened home windows, however I couldn’t discover any apps that defaulted to this mode; all of the apps I attempted may very well be stretched and expanded. Actually, DeX dealt with some older apps higher than the Pixel, which defaulted to full display screen and have become unresponsive with a few older apps I attempted that positively weren’t constructed for widescreen assist. That’s a minor distinction within the grand scheme, although.

On the entire, each DeX and Pixel desktop modes present very comparable core performance and run at the moment’s trendy Android apps simply as properly in desktop mode as in telephone mode.

Eagle-eyed readers can have already noticed a number of key variations after we first seemed on the interfaces. DeX defaults to displaying a number of desktop icons, together with the dock, and you’ll add apps to the desktop grid just by clicking and dragging them out of the app drawer. Actually, DeX’s desktop is a completely customizable panorama all of its personal, full with the exact same widgets you’ll be able to plaster throughout your telephone’s homescreen. Importantly, modifications made right here don’t have an effect on your telephone’s homescreen. In the meantime, Pixel’s desktop is basically only a glorified wallpaper. Not like DeX​, you’ll be able to’t place app icons or widgets instantly on it.

One other important change is the best way the 2 deal with fast settings and notifications. DeX provides these choices as extra acquainted “system tray” or “notification space” gadgets, together with a calendar and clock. Clicking any of those icons opens the related settings, permitting fast entry to examine your schedule, toggle Bluetooth connections, or reply to an incoming message. It’s very PC-like. Google presently has nothing like this.

As a substitute, Pixel opts for a top-down, phone-inspired strategy to notifications and fast settings. Whereas that is acquainted in a single sense, it’s at odds with muscle reminiscence for a way we anticipate desktop interfaces to work. For a begin, the tiny little clock or connectivity icons you need to click on on the high of the display screen are far too small. Even after you lastly pull down the menu, it nonetheless takes up all the display screen, blocking your apps and limiting your multitasking. In comparison with a pleasant little pop-up in conjunction with your display screen, it’s not nice.

It’s not a clear sweep for DeX, although. On my Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely, DeX scaled Chrome so aggressively that navigating some pages turned awkward. It’s basically trapped within the cellular world, inflicting all kinds of formatting points when viewing pages on a big display screen. Requesting desktop variations of websites helped, however not sufficiently to make this a local expertise — you’re greatest off sticking to Samsung Web, which works flawlessly. By comparability, Google has gone to some effort to make sure a extra desktop-like Chrome expertise, although it nonetheless lacks extensions.

By now, you’ll be able to most likely inform I’m leaning extra in favor of DeX than Pixel Desktop Mode, however just for a number of small quality-of-life enhancements quite than a core performance distinction.

As an illustration, DeX does a greater job of surfacing extra however essential Exterior Show settings. There’s a devoted choice for display screen timeout for PC mode, which is frustratingly the identical for telephone and desktop modes on the Pixel. Moreover, you’ll be able to set PC-only wallpapers on DeX whereas all customization settings are shared on Google’s implementation. My Galaxy S25 Extremely even contains a good little touchpad button on the backside left of the telephone display screen, letting me simply navigate the exterior show and not using a mouse related. Factors for DeX right here; the platform’s maturity and further years below refinement do make it that little bit nicer to make use of.

I can greatest sum up the distinction because the Pixel’s setup is extra restricted in a single key method: its UI continues to be very a lot certain to its telephone interface. The phone-like notification panel and the shortage of per-interface persistent settings are minor gripes, however they’re actually sufficient to take the shine off the expertise for energy customers. When you peel again the wrapper, it’s clear that you just’re nonetheless very a lot engaged on a Pixel telephone, whereas DeX has a clearer separation between its telephone host and the desktop interface you wish to spend time doing severe work in. It’s solely small variations, however they add up.

Pixel Desktop Mode exhibits the place Android is heading — a single OS that scales seamlessly from telephone to desktop. Google plans to tackle desktops with Aluminium OS earlier than the top of the 12 months, in any case. However at the moment, Samsung DeX nonetheless feels just like the extra full desktop setting due to its additional refinement. The hole isn’t enormous, although, and if Google continues iterating at its present tempo, Pixel Desktop Mode might not keep behind for lengthy.