Huawei had introduced three Mate 10-branded smartphones yesterday, the Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro and PORSCHE DESIGN Mate 10, and all of those handsets actually come with a rather interesting functionality. During the press event, Huawei had revealed a rather interesting software functionality of the Mate 10, which allows the phone (all devices in the series), to essentially be used on a monitor, as they come with a desktop mode, read on.
This desktop mode is rather similar to what Samsung has to offer through its DeX dock, but unlike Samsung’s offering, you do not need a dock to make the magic happen with the Mate 10 handsets, all you need is a cable (though a rather specific one), which makes things a lot more convenient, as you don’t need to spend an extra $100 on a dock. In order to make this happen, you’ll need a USB-C to HMDI adapter / cable, the USB-C port will be plugged into your phone, while you’ll plug the other end of that cable into your TV’s HDMI port. Once that is done, the phone will load what is known as ‘EMUI Desktop’ to your TV / monitor, and it will take it about 10 seconds to get everything up and running. Once that happens, you will see a rather familiar desktop mode on your TV / monitor, with a row of apps at your disposal (though you can use any app on your phone, of course’.
It’s worth noting that at the moment, only some apps have been optimized for this desktop experience (full screen mode), while you’ll need to run others in small windows. Now, what’s interesting is, that you can even bring a mouse and / or a keyboard to the party, presuming your USB-C to HDMI converter has extra USB port, of course. If that’s not the case, you can always use your phone to navigate the UI, as the phone’s display will act as a trackpad of sorts. So, is Huawei’s solution better than Samsung’s? Well, only time will tell, but Huawei did eliminate the need of carrying around a dock (and spending money on it), which makes the whole ordeal a whole lot more convenient, but we’ll see if consumers will find this feature interesting or not.