Miraxess launches a new passive dock to transform a compatible smartphone into a PC. The French start-up does not hesitate to highlight its compatibility with the future Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The French start-up Miraxess was at CES 2023 and is taking advantage of the lull at the end of the show to present its new product, the passive MiraDock station, in more detail. The goal of this is to transform a smartphone into a desktop computer as simply as possible.
The Miraxess Fad
Miraxess is a startup founded on a very specific idea, that smartphones will one day replace computers. To a certain extent, they are already capable of this. Already in 2017, we discovered – still at CES – the Mirabook, a passive laptop computer operating using a smartphone. Five years later, it is the fixed PC which is targeted.
This dock has a USB port on the front to accommodate a smartphone, like any speaker or traditional dock. It nevertheless uses the DisplayPort connection via USB available on certain smartphones to transmit images, sound and information to external peripherals, such as a keyboard, a mouse and a screen.
At the back, there are four USB-A ports (including two 3.0), an RJ45 Ethernet (1 Gb / s), an SD port, a microSD port, two USB-C ports, a jack output and an HDMI. Enough to connect a number of devices to the output. Miraxess explains that it is possible to connect and display two devices simultaneously and switch between sources with the push of a button.
Compatible with Galaxy S23
As with the Mirabook, the MiraDock requires the smartphone to be compatible with DisplayPort via USB. However, a large number of smartphones are content with DisplayLink. Among the compatible devices, we can cite all Samsung Galaxy smartphones with the option DeX (the top of the range since the S8), compatible Huawei smartphones Easy Projection (the top of the range since the Mate 10) and compatible Motorola smartphones Ready For (G100, G200 and the Edge range). To find out if your phone is compatible, contact the manufacturer’s customer service.
On its page, Miraxess even specifies that “the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the perfect companion for the MiraDock“. A good opportunity to talk about a promising phone that has not yet been announced.
In its FAQ, Miraxess promises to develop an adapter to convert the DisplayLink signal to DisplayPort to adapt to the greatest number. Remember that since Android 10, a PC interface (like those mentioned above) is available natively in the options for system developers.
An ecological idea
At present, these solutions are still quite limited. Back in 2018, we wrote that Samsung Dex is a brilliant, but frustrating idea. The principle remains no less visionary. Imagine that this kind of dock is easily found almost everywhere and that all you have to do is connect your smartphone to it to work in a familiar and secure environment. We would then always have ourcomputeron us, ready to go into productivity mode. So many fewer PCs to buy.
The MiraDock is currently on pre-order at 139 euros on Miraxess website for a release announced in the first quarter of 2023.
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