Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Ebony Shaw photo
Oman, Muscat
1 Level
472 Review
0 Karma

Review on Samsung DeX Pad Desktop Experience for Samsung Galaxy Note8, GS8, GS8+, GS9, and GS9+ with Fast Charging USB-C Wall Charger (US Version & Warranty) by Ebony Shaw

Revainrating 1 out of 5

Sucks, bad on charging stations

I originally had an S4 and used the Smart Dock to access the network with a monitor, physical keyboard and mouse. It worked well until Samsung updated the OS, leaving me unable to access many websites and requiring repeated attempts to connect the phone to the station. I was looking to get a newer Galaxy but unfortunately Samsung removed the MHL capability on the S5, S6 and S7. There was no way to connect these phones to a monitor via a wired connection (it was only bluetooth). So I was pleasantly surprised when Samsung brought it back along with the S8 station and Dex. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as efficient as my old S4/Smart Dock. While I can now access all websites and docking doesn't require dozens of retries to connect, everything else is terrible. First, the phone doesn't work properly when dialing (no dial tone and keeps disconnecting) and I can only undock. Even then, after a short while, the phone screen stubbornly dims the screen, and the only way to bring it back is to press that idiotic Bixby button. Then there are options to change the screen size: you cannot reset the default size. That means I have to scale every damn webpage so I can see it at the right, big size on my monitor. Oh yeah, the resolution is way better than my S4, but that doesn't mean anything if you can't read the screen. To make matters worse, I can't even change the screen size while browsing Chrome or Firefox! There are no ways to fix it. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm using an unlocked phone with my ISP (instead of the assigned MetroPCS), the customization options are very limited, well, almost nothing. Oh, and like someone else said, DeX is energy intensive. It can't work with normal charger power supply, need to use powerful fast charger. No wonder a fan had to be built into the device. It should be noted that I'm using an S9 and from what I've read Samsung has actually reduced the phone's personalization options compared to the previous S8. For example, it is no longer possible to change text colors. This is a colossal PIA because the white writing on top of the blue bubbles just doesn't show up on the monitor. I'm also using this latest version, which doesn't have an ethernet port (who cares?) but has better screen resolution and horizontal docking instead of vertical docking like the first, more portable device. Given the circumstances, I'm very disappointed with the S9/DeX combo as opposed to my old S4/Smart Dock. Samsung is really moving in the wrong direction.

Pros
  • Cool
Cons
  • Useless features