The Galaxy S20 Ultra Powered Laptop!
Oct 20, 2025
The NexDock allows your Samsung Galaxy smartphone (this video features Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Ultra) to power a laptop style device. FOLLOW ME IN THESE PLACES FOR UPDATES Twitter - http://twitter.com/unboxtherapy Facebook - http://facebook.com/lewis.hilsenteger Instagram - http://instagram.com/unboxtherapy
View Video Transcript
0:00
This is a type of thing, this type of product that gets me excited because it's a little bit different
0:04
It's also something I've been thinking about for a while. Certain companies have approached something like this, but it's been hit and miss as far as how useful it's been
0:13
We're talking about the idea that your smartphone becomes your computing hub instead of your laptop
0:20
That it plugs into something like a laptop. It is the brains of the laptop
0:24
but the laptop displays an interface similar to what you're used to
0:30
on a desktop computing platform, even though it's being powered from a smartphone
0:35
Now, Samsung most recently has been working on it in the form of their DeX product
0:39
Oh, HP tried to do it too. Man, it's been, I would say the more common implementation
0:44
up until this point has been some sort of a dock that connects to a computer monitor
0:49
and a mouse and keyboard, like a hub sort of. But this one today gives you a traditional laptop form factor keyboard display
0:58
a thing that you can fold up that has no guts in it. The guts are in your phone and you plug it in over USB type C and boom
1:05
it's called the NextDock. I believe it's a Kickstarter. It's pre-order right now
1:09
All of your apps. Well, it's going to give you a keyboard. Most importantly, I would say a bigger display and a keyboard
1:15
They've got a little kind of mount scenario going on over here
1:19
It doesn't cost as much as the laptop. that's a benefit it's got to be lighter than a laptop the 13 inch non-touchscreen model starts
1:27
at 259 with the u.s keyboard layout there's also a trackpad these things i mean this is the ultra
1:32
model they've gotten so powerful it does beg the question why are we carrying around all this
1:36
horsepower when it's already in here and all you might want is a bigger display and a keyboard for
1:41
certain circumstances i'll give you the drawback as we're opening this package the current drawback
1:46
is that not all models of Android devices are capable of this
1:50
And obviously iOS devices are not capable of this. It's only devices that have some sort of desktop mode
1:58
baked into them. So obviously there's the Samsung products dating back to the S8 series
2:03
and some Note series from the same era and the new stuff
2:07
And then there's also the Huawei devices. They have their own desktop mode
2:11
So those ones work as well. Those are popular devices, but it's not all of them
2:15
Nextdoc says, with the new rollout of new Android software, desktop modes are gonna become more ubiquitous
2:20
across the whole landscape, in which case this thing becomes even more useful
2:25
regardless of which phone you on Now I do not know if this is a retail version because as I mentioned earlier in this video for the time being this is a campaign of Yeah so it is on Kickstarter for pre Wow They raised half a million Oh okay
2:44
Very organized unboxing experience. There's an HDMI cable, a short HDMI cable. Oh, a very
2:51
robust type c cable a usb type c to micro usb slash usb a a longer more typical usb type c cable
3:02
this will likely go to your power brick right here it looks to be capable of being adapted
3:09
to a variety of regions including europe and so on man they really included everything look at this
3:16
This is a mini or micro HDMI to full size HDMI female
3:21
micro USB to type C adapter. So they got every adapter you could ever possibly want
3:26
Look at this, it's slotted in there. Okay, first things first, this feels heavier than I expected
3:34
There's a battery in here according to Will. Okay, so now that's starting to make sense
3:38
So this has a 6800 milliamp hour battery. That's probably the majority of the weight that I'm feeling
3:43
Build quality, my initial impression here, it feels robust, man. It's a micro SD card reader, a headphone jack
3:49
and a USB type A port. Let's crack it open. Wow. I'm gonna go ahead and say it
3:57
the fit and finish here exceeds my expectations. The glass at the top wraps around the display
4:04
It's this very polished look to it. The keys are not the best I've ever felt
4:12
but they're definitely in the same territory as other low profile keyboards
4:17
It feels lighter on the bottom than the display portion itself. What is the weight of this, Will
4:22
3.1 pounds. I like the idea of this thing also charging your phone
4:27
or giving you extra charges on your phone. Now, these other cables that they've included
4:32
are for use with a Raspberry Pi setup. This could act as your keyboard, mouse
4:38
and display for a Raspberry Pi, and that's where that pigtail connector with the micro USB comes in
4:43
Look at this. Next dock is ready to connect. Ooh, that's one benefit
4:47
That power up is instant. I have the latest S20 flagship. This is the Ultra
4:55
So we just plug it in. It triggers the Samsung DeX over here Continue get the Samsung DeX logo Through Samsung DeX choose to use your phone as a touchpad rather than this as a touchpad
5:09
And you can also switch to screen mirroring where you're gonna see your actual phone
5:14
and be able to interact with it. Typing is very similar to the new MacBook Pro
5:20
the 16-inch MacBook Pro. So if we open a browser again, and what happens if we go to YouTube here
5:27
Yeah. Okay. Okay. Let's try to move the audio from the phone
5:32
They're committed, Will. They're committed. They're in it. They're not leaving. Oh. We got more brightness as well. You know what? I got to say, I'm kind of into this. This is
5:44
kind of cool. There's something to this. A lot of products come through here
5:50
a lot of times it's a rehash or something that you've seen or there's just you can nitpick it
5:58
there's things you don't like about it this is a tough category over here like you're trying to
6:05
convince people to get away from a traditional laptop and it's hard well you know you get a
6:12
chromebook for like two three hundred dollars anyway so now you're thinking to yourself well
6:17
that could charge your phone and you got everything on the web anyways so do you even need your phone
6:22
on your laptop but there's certain advantages you do everything on your phone anyways everything
6:28
from messaging to phone calls all that stuff is baked in via dex here it's all in there your
6:34
notifications you know how many people i see to get their laptop and then their phone sitting right
6:38
beside it you probably did that right now will look i actually i'm looking at it now i think 259
6:44
which is their asking price is pretty reasonable for what it is. You got the backlit keyboard as
6:49
well by the way. Look at that. Bit of a backlight on there. So what happens if you close it down
6:55
Oh it's instantly on. Would you look at that? Just like a phone. I'm actually surprised by the
7:01
construction. Impressed by the construction for a newcomer like that. The trackpad I was worried
7:05
about but I'm starting to get used to it. Interesting. So at the moment right now my phone
7:10
is not charging or is it just because the phone's already 100% let me see your phone will we're
7:16
adding another phone to the mix what is this uh regular s20 that's a nice color gray kind of thing
7:22
going on this is 100% charge it's not pulling any juice maybe oh yeah okay I take it back
7:28
apologies people could share this thing in the house just bring your phone just pop your phone in Hey can I use the next doc I need to hack out an essay or a TPS report
7:40
Okay, go for it. No problem. Look, we got Will's dark mode enabled over here
7:45
from his phone. Now I need to be clear. This trackpad experience is not going to mimic
7:51
your MacBook over there, Will. The trackpad just needs to be sped up
7:55
We're all used to more accelerated trackpad. You think it's a settings issue
7:59
It's slow. I wish it was a bit brighter. It's 250 bucks though
8:03
I wish it was a bit lighter. It's 250 bucks though. You have a pretty fat bezel
8:07
I mean, there's some things I could nitpick, but ultimately as a whole concept and a fit and finish of it
8:12
I have to say I'm surprised at the execution here. I'm not telling, it's not an endorsement
8:17
I'm telling you rush out and get it. Understand it's a new brand and there's some sort of risk involved
8:23
anytime you get involved with a new brand. So you got to keep that in mind. it's pretty beautiful for porting from this but is this this is dex right like that's dex yeah
8:33
yeah so if you it looks like windows yeah here's all your apps it reminds me of the slate
8:39
sort of uh like chrome os yeah i also understand it's pretty much only compelling to people who use
8:48
samsung phones right now because it's tapping into the dex thing and the phone is powerful like look
8:54
what it's doing right now, it's running, what is that, 1080, or is that, that looks really good
8:59
I don't know what that is. All right, well, let me just see the full specs
9:03
One last time, if you could scroll to that location. 13.3 inch IPS display, 1920 by 1080, so it's FHD 69
9:12
It's a 51 watt hour battery, USB-C 3.1 with display port, and one full size HDMI in
9:19
Okay, so a full size HDMI in is interesting too. throw your game console in there do they have a delivery date or time are they talking about when
9:28
you can get this they're telling me reserve for march 2020 as early limited quantities so this is
9:34
the stuff that makes me nervous and it should make you nervous too like this is where you do you put
9:39
in the due diligence people are increasingly the phone is the hub the phone is the brain what do i
9:44
do on my laptop i don't know i'm just popping into the browser anyway it's kind of amazing to see what
9:48
you can get done with a high-powered smartphone in 2020. It's Samsung for now, but hopefully if this does well
9:55
it'll be more in the future
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