The Samsung Dex was announced alongside the Galaxy S8 last year to great fanfare. Unfortunately by all accounts it failed to live up to these expectations but that hasn’t stopped Samsung from continuing along these lines with the next version of DeX leaking today.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 is set to launch at MWC in Barcelona in a few weeks time and it appears that the next incarnation of DeX, the DeX Pad, will be announced with it at the same time. Today Evan Blass has revealed the DeX Pad in images, something he commented on back in November:
Samsung plans to introduce a backward-compatible DeX docking station that situates the phones flat and utilizes the screens as either a touchpad or a virtual keyboard.
https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/961744410970148864
The next DeX Pad will connect to the phone using a USB-C plug and the phone will be lying flat on the pad. The phone can then be used as a trackpad for operating the PC functionality projector to a monitor via HDMI. There are also two USB ports within the dock for added functionality and storage.
The DeX Pad looks like a great idea although the pricing is what will dissuade many people from purchasing it with the original DeX costing around the $200 mark when it was released. Huawei have their PC projection option in the Mate 10 and all that requires is a plain old USB-C to HDMI cable/converter. Hopefully Samsung price this attractively to get it into more hands out there.
The Samsung train is coming and everyone it seems is getting out of its way. MWC new phone releases will be all about Samsung and their new Galaxy S9 and S9+. No one is daring to take them on at this stage. We will see more surrounding this dock and the Galaxy S9 phones in a few weeks time — stay tuned to Ausdroid where will will have full coverage from Barcelona of the Samsung announcements.
