{"id":177541,"date":"2025-06-12T05:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T05:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/177541\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T05:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T05:11:14","slug":"the-android-desktop-experience-is-officially-here-for-testing-on-pixel-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/177541\/","title":{"rendered":"The Android desktop experience is officially here for testing on Pixel phones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"750\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AndroidDesktopArrives-750x420.webp.webp\" class=\"singular-image entry-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The dream of a true, native desktop mode for Android has been a long time coming. For years, we\u2019ve seen hints and manufacturer-specific solutions like Samsung DeX, but a cohesive, Google-led effort has remained a bit of a pipe dream. At Google I\/O 2025, that dream finally began taking shape with the announcement of enhanced desktop experiences. And today, it becomes a reality you can actually try: <strong>a Developer Preview for Android\u2019s new desktop mode is now available in the Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 release for select Pixel devices.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is the most serious and promising effort we\u2019ve seen from Google to transform your phone or tablet into a powerful, large-screen productivity tool. And by collaborating with Samsung on this, they\u2019re building on the solid years-old foundation of DeX to bring this experience to the entire Android ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>What the new Android desktop experience looks like<\/p>\n<p>So, what happens when you plug your device into a monitor with this new ability? The experience is impressively robust and differs slightly between phones and tablets in a very smart way.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/external-display-connected-to-desktop-session-material-design.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>When you connect a supported Pixel phone to an external display, a new, independent desktop session starts up on the big screen. Your phone\u2019s screen remains its own separate space. The connected display gives you a familiar desktop environment, complete with a taskbar for your running and pinned apps. You can run multiple apps side-by-side and freely resize their windows, just like you would on a Chromebook or a Windows PC.<\/p>\n<p>\nFeatured Videos<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1749705074_537_external-display-connected-to-desktop-session-material-design.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>For tablets, it gets even cooler. When you connect a compatible tablet to an external display, the desktop session is <strong>extended across both screens.<\/strong> This creates one massive, continuous workspace, allowing you to drag app windows, content, and your mouse cursor freely between your tablet\u2019s screen and the external monitor.<\/p>\n<p>New desktop-class features<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t just a simple windowing mode, however; Google has baked in several new features to make it a true desktop-class experience. The underlying \u201cdesktop windowing\u201d is becoming stable in Android 16, and it brings some key improvements:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Easier window arrangement:<\/strong> You\u2019ll have more intuitive options for tiling multiple app windows side-by-side, making it simpler to multitask across different applications.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Multiple virtual desktops:<\/strong> Just like on a desktop OS, you can set up multiple desktop spaces for different workflows (e.g., one for work, one for personal) and switch between them.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Better app compatibility:<\/strong> New treatments will help older, non-optimized apps look and behave more predictably in a windowed environment by default.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Easily manage multiple windows of the same app:<\/strong> You\u2019ll be able to manage and switch between multiple instances of the same app (like two Chrome windows) from the taskbar.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Your workspace remembers its layout:<\/strong> Android will now better maintain your window sizes, positions, and states. When you set up your workspace just how you like it, it can be restored across sessions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How to try it<\/p>\n<p>This is an early look, but if you\u2019re feeling adventurous, you can test it out now. This new desktop experience is part of the <strong>Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2<\/strong> release. To get started, you\u2019ll need a supported Pixel device (currently the Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 series) enrolled in the Android Beta Program.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to remember this is a \u201cDeveloper Preview,\u201d which means it\u2019s still early and primarily intended for developers to begin optimizing their apps. There might be bugs, but it gives us a fantastic glimpse of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n<p>This is a massive step forward for Android\u2019s productivity story. The collaboration with Samsung, the thoughtful features, and the release for testing all signal that Google is finally all-in on creating a powerful, native desktop experience for Android. <strong>We can\u2019t wait to dive in and test this out ourselves and will be sure to report back on how it all works.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Join Chrome Unboxed Plus<\/p>\n<p class=\"CUPdescription\">Introducing <strong>Chrome Unboxed Plus<\/strong> \u2013 our revamped membership community. Join today at just $2 \/ month to get access to our private Discord, exclusive giveaways, AMAs, an ad-free website, ad-free podcast experience and more.<\/p>\n<p>Plus Monthly<\/p>\n<p class=\"CUPboxSubHeading\">$2\/mo. after 7-day free trial<\/p>\n<p class=\"CUPboxDescription\">Pay monthly to support our independent coverage and get access to exclusive benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Plus Annual<\/p>\n<p class=\"CUPboxSubHeading\">$20\/yr. after 7-day free trial<\/p>\n<p class=\"CUPboxDescription\">Pay yearly to support our independent coverage and get access to exclusive benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Our newsletters are also a great way to get connected.  <a href=\"https:\/\/chromeunboxed.memberful.com\/register\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe here!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"CUPfaqLink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/chromeunboxed.com\/join\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> to learn more and for membership FAQ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dream of a true, native desktop mode for Android has been a long time coming. For years,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[36066,2061,73292,36067,19968,53,8741,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-177541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-36066","9":"tag-android","10":"tag-available","11":"tag-desktop","12":"tag-official","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-testing","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114668679197100768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}