Grab a USB-C to DisplayPort cable and newer Pixels can be viewed from your TV or monitor.
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Google’s Pixel 8 series finally supports DisplayPort
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Huh, as the owner of a Pixel 8 Pro I will probably use this feature once and never again. Kind of neat in case you forget your laptop on a trip or something, though.
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I guess make sure to turn on Do Not Disturb before doing a presentation, potential for all kinds of humiliating hilarity from your notifications being displayed 50" wide in front of all your work colleagues and your boss.
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I only used this feature a few times previously, but glad my 2023 flagship Android phone is getting closer to feature parity with my 6yo Galaxy S9 that it replaced. Too bad it still can't handle miracast...
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Better late than never. Always happy to see one less tradeoff/dealbreaker in the feature list!
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Does the mirrored mode include the lock screen? Will it allow accessing a device with a nonfunctional display?
The HDMI out let me save all my data when my old ASUS Transformer's screen died.
The HDMI out let me save all my data when my old ASUS Transformer's screen died.
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Still wish Microsoft would have taken this to the next level with Windows Phone. It was just so hamstrung having to run everything in desktop mode as an MS Store app only. It was a neat gimmick that had a couple high points but not enough for a full day of work if you used anything but MS apps or ecosystem (Office/OneDrive/etc).
I guess the ARM<->x86 translation work is finally catching up to make it a reality on modern processors. I always liked the idea of just using my work phone and not needing a separate laptop. Of course, that was when I went into the office and stood at a desk every day...
EDIT: Had a wrong word.
I guess the ARM<->x86 translation work is finally catching up to make it a reality on modern processors. I always liked the idea of just using my work phone and not needing a separate laptop. Of course, that was when I went into the office and stood at a desk every day...
EDIT: Had a wrong word.
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I’ve seen iterations of this desktop mode from phones for years now, but I’ve always been curious. Has anybody really used it consistently in a production environment or as a daily driver around here? I never was able to wrap my head around the “why,” and everyone I personally know used it between 0 and 2 times.
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Displayport only, or will HDMI be supported as well? I could legitimately use this in my work troubleshooting AV systems around the school I work in.
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Finally! It's about time they stopped crippling a feature that's been available in the SoC.
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This means retired devices can live on as an HTPC/emulation box. Pretty nice actually.
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Yup. Years ago I had a Motorola phone had micro-HDMI. I got the cable and used it once. Kind of neat. Never used it again.
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All type-C to HDMI cables are actually DP cables that then convert to HDMI. Your phone sends DP, your display sees HDMI, and neither end gives a shit that there's a translator in the middle.
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I got one of the lightning to hdmi cables years ago for my ipad air. Yeah used it once and never again.
The experience sucks; at least back then.
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Pixel phones have been capable of this for many generations. Google disabled the functionality in software. We should not be congratulating them for enabling software features that were disabled to sell more chromecasts. Shame on google for creating this problem in the first place.
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It Just Werks
(In theory, anyway. My current phone's isn't entirely bug-free, but it's still a better experience than wireless mirroring.)
Connecting to HDMI works with an appropriate cable or adapter. Under the hood, the port outputs a Displayport signal and it gets converted to HDMI by the adapter/cable. Directly outputting a true HDMI signal from USB-C was apparently so rare that the standard got deprecated last year.
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The beauty of having this functionality is it means you can use your phone with a work/business "hotel station" laptop dock. It definitely has value, even if it is not consistent daily value.
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Statistical
Ars Legatus Legionis
Yup. The monitor/TV sees it as a HDMI source. The device sees it as a displayport monitor. It is a useful white lie. The actual HDMI alt-mode was dead on arrival. I don't believe a single device was ever made. Most people thinking they had a HDMI alt-mode device or cable were in fact like you said using a converter. This is true of cables, and also true of docking stations. If you have a usb-c or TB3 docking stations with HDMI ports the laptop is outputting DP and the docking station is converting that to HDMI.
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Ars Legatus Legionis
The short although incomplete answer is yes.
The longer answer is that it actually outputs only DP but there are usb-c to HDMI cable/adapters that inside the cable not the device takes the incoming DP signal and convert it to HDMI. So honestly only nerds really care but technically there is no outputting HDMI from a usb-c port not on this device not on any device. In fact the cables are so common many people are convinced their laptop/tablet outputs HDMI. It doesn't. It outputs DP and that gets converted so it just "works" when you connect it to an HDMI TV/display.
Technically there was an HDMI altmode which is probably why people think their laptop/tablet outputs HDMI. It would have output native HDMI from usb-c ports but for a variety of technical reasons that I doubt anyone really cares about it never got implemented in any devices and was unceremoniously deprecated last year. This is actually a good thing otherwise you would have two different ways of doing it which look similar but require different cables. If you see a usb-c to hdmi cable today anywhere in the world it is converting the DP to HDMI. If you have a device any device which has video output over usb-c it is using DP-altmode even if connected to an HDMI display.
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This could be useful in hotels, to watch streams in whatever app you want on the TV.
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So close, if only you could actually match the resolution of the TV it would be useful during hotel stays.
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I wonder why Google doesn't just copy Samsung DEX. Plug it in, get a desktop like screen, instead of simply mirroring the screen. Just make it feel like ChromeOS.
Actually, that would be a selling feature, Plug your Pixel into a dock, you're now running ChromeOS*
*not actual ChromeOS, but it behaves and feels like ChromeOS.
Edit: Whoops, accidentally glossed over the fact Rumours suggest this very thing... but why's it taking so long?
Actually, that would be a selling feature, Plug your Pixel into a dock, you're now running ChromeOS*
*not actual ChromeOS, but it behaves and feels like ChromeOS.
Edit: Whoops, accidentally glossed over the fact Rumours suggest this very thing... but why's it taking so long?
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I periodically want to record videos of apps on my phone for demonstrations or feed the video into a Blackmagic ATEM. This sounds perfect.
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If I could run a ChromeOS or better yet Ubuntu vm/container on an Android tablet, that would be pretty great.
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This just in...
"Google kills the Pixel 8 series USB-C to DisplayPort"
Too soon? /s
"Google kills the Pixel 8 series USB-C to DisplayPort"
Too soon? /s
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You can cast screen to a supported device with the Google Home app. A cable's going to be perfectly reliable, and won't require a supported device, just a DisplayPort device.
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They already had that feature on previous devices, which they then disabled as a means to help sell more Chromecasts. So technically, this would be "Google resurrects DP Alt Mode for Pixel 8 series, execution scheduled for this autumn"
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I'll be using this all the time. This means I can download content at home and display it without using up my limited cellular data. It also means that video that I do stream (probably sports stuff) will count against the premium data allotment on the phone rather than the more limited hotspot data. I hope you can still enable desktop mode though, because being able to play video on the TV and still play on the phone would be nice.
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I've just shattered the screen of my new Pixel 8a.
If this feature works as promised, it will be very helpful for me while I'm waiting for a replacement.
If this feature works as promised, it will be very helpful for me while I'm waiting for a replacement.
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Well this is a nice about face from them explicitly removing the display out drivers for things like display link based docks and similar from their older devices. Now if only they'd support miracast as well. I like my Pixel 4a but the fact that there is no way to hook it up or cast to external display other than buying a Chromecast Is just dumb. My Galaxy S5 from 2014 could use both wireless casting and mhl cables why did it take this long for Google to have parity especially when ASOP had/has support for those other methods.
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I only see this as a plus. This is one of those features that I will almost never use but the few times I've needed it it's annoyed me that I don't have it. (Usually involves needing to screencast in an environment where Chromecast isn't feasible.)
And even if Google does kill it in software, it's still supported in hardware. Custom ROMs will be able to support it.
And even if Google does kill it in software, it's still supported in hardware. Custom ROMs will be able to support it.
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I've actually been intensely anticipating this feature, because I have a small mini projector I bring camping to watch shows/movies.
Getting a media source with broad compatibility is tricky, though; I don't want to bring a whole computer, and the built-in media player doesn't seem to support any formats more recent than the really 2000s.
My current solution is a Raspberry Pi 4 running LibreELEC/Kodi, but that requires a separate phone-sized device in addition to a peripheral like a mouse or gamepad to control it, and a power source. Being able to simply hook my Pixel 8 up to the projector directly would be ideal.
The projector is low resolution (848x480) though, so scaling and aspect ratios are important; if all it supports is a direct clone of the normal phone display, it will be double-letterboxed with normal 16:9 content resulting in an unusably low res image. Hopefully hooking up a 16:9 display shrinks the phone to 16:9 to match, but I'm doubtful.
Getting a media source with broad compatibility is tricky, though; I don't want to bring a whole computer, and the built-in media player doesn't seem to support any formats more recent than the really 2000s.
My current solution is a Raspberry Pi 4 running LibreELEC/Kodi, but that requires a separate phone-sized device in addition to a peripheral like a mouse or gamepad to control it, and a power source. Being able to simply hook my Pixel 8 up to the projector directly would be ideal.
The projector is low resolution (848x480) though, so scaling and aspect ratios are important; if all it supports is a direct clone of the normal phone display, it will be double-letterboxed with normal 16:9 content resulting in an unusably low res image. Hopefully hooking up a 16:9 display shrinks the phone to 16:9 to match, but I'm doubtful.
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You don't need a USB-C to DisplayPort cable. If you do, that's a limitation of your display. It also works as DP alt mode over a USB-C to USB-C cable.
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This seems like the best use case for me, too. Don't have to worry about clearing out your login credentials at whatever AirBnb. You don't have to care about the UI or control, because once it's going, it'll just sit there untouched. Having a way to keep the device charging while it's outputting would be nice, but I'm sure that's a problem solved with an adapter/splitter kind of thing.
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You know what would be probably MORE useful than USB-c to Displayport?
Screencasting to non-Chromecast devices.
It really p***es me off that my Pixel phone can't screencast to a Roku Stick, my Smart TV, or most other devices except Chromecast.
It's really dumb that this has remained the case for years. DoJ should force Google to fix that by adding Miracast support, while they are on an anti-trust enforcement action against them.
Screencasting to non-Chromecast devices.
It really p***es me off that my Pixel phone can't screencast to a Roku Stick, my Smart TV, or most other devices except Chromecast.
It's really dumb that this has remained the case for years. DoJ should force Google to fix that by adding Miracast support, while they are on an anti-trust enforcement action against them.
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