Los Angeles-based Sentio launched its latest offering in the form of Sentio Desktop earlier this week, revealing a phone-to-PC solution reminiscent of the Samsung Desktop Experience (DeX) station, albeit one that’s compatible with any contemporary Android device. The company’s technology is entirely app-based and can be used free of charge, with Sentio uploading its latest offering to the Google Play Store on Monday. Much like Samsung’s dock and related software, Sentio Desktop seeks to emulate a Windows-styled experience ranging from support for productivity apps and exploring files to desktop icons and multi-window functionality meant to maximize the usefulness of the service.
Sentio Desktop is compatible with most modern devices running Android 7.0 Nougat and later versions of Google’s operating system, though the company previously experimented with a similar service for Lollipop and Marshmallow called Andromium OS which is still available for download from the Google Play Store but under a rebranded name – Sentio Desktop (Lollipop, Marshmallow). The previous solution amassed over a million downloads and already offered some basic desktop functionality to owners of older Android devices, with its successor being meant to improve upon the essentials and deliver a more full-fledged productivity platform. Sentio Desktop supports “millions” of Android apps, including popular tools like Google Chrome and Microsoft Office, the company said.
While the Sentio Desktop app can be used on its own, it was primarily meant to complement Sentio’s Superbook, a crowdfunded laptop shell for Android smartphones and tablets that’s just entering production after raising close to $3 million on Kickstarter last year. Superbook’s backers and people who placed advanced orders on the gadget will start receiving the device in the coming weeks, whereas the general public will be able to purchase it beginning in early 2018 for $149, the startup revealed, without attaching a more specific time frame to the announcement. The firm’s phone-to-PC platform started as one of Google‘s “20 percent” projects but was shot down by the management, which prompted Gordon Zheng to quit and co-found Sentio. As the service is delivered in the form of an app, it’s not only compatible with countless Android smartphones and tablets but will also keep getting updated to support Google’s upcoming OS iterations.
