Why no Pixel Desktop?

I remember years ago seeing the Asus PadFone and falling in love with the idea of having one device that could “change” based on how you wanted to use it and it is one of the reasons I went with Surace products as I semi-assumed Microsoft would go this direction. For those that never heard of the Asus PadFone it was, in the politest way, just a fancy tablet desk for a phone. You would plug the mobile device and then you could use it as a tablet and then you could dock a keyboard on to turn it into a laptop – pretty neat idea right?

Well flash-forward a couple of years and we are now at that point where mobile devices are pretty powerful and I imagine like most people reading this rant you don’t have much need for an actual laptop. For myself, if I am doing any coding I am going to boot up my laptop, if I am going to do any actual gaming beyond emulators I am going to boot up my PC or Steam Deck but there are times I am out and about (or can’t be bothered) when I can’t use my PC and I want to write something such as an email or on this website and I will have to use my Surface Pro. Lately, this got me thinking again about something – why doesn’t the Pixel device lineup have a built-in Desktop Mode or even ChromeOS?

I am aware that Android has a desktop mode but I dunno about anyone else I can not find any settings for it on my Google Pixel 7 but I would happily pay for a laptop dock where I could plug my Pixel into it and it either uses a desktop interface for Android, loads up ChromeOS or even a basic rooted Linux desktop. There is little reason that the Samsung DeX exists, yet Google doesn’t have something similar for their Android operating systems. Seriously there is little reason why the Google Pixel shouldn’t support DisplayPort Alternate Mode and release either a Chromebook-like shell where you plug your phone into or a docking station which sits on the side which then boots up a desktop mode or ChromeOS.

I know a feature like this wouldn’t be a “game changer” and it is likely the reason why this isn’t the norm but imagine how much it would help people. For many people, they may not even use an actual desktop and they would just plop their phone into a dock and use that when they are at home. I do know when it comes to upgrading my phone I will seriously look into this feature even if it means moving things to Samsung’s ecosystem – something I have considered before due to the problems I have had with Google’s Workspace.

Ah, well desktop mode is something I can only dream of. As if Google would do something useful.