So I am in many forums, communities, in some I’m a moderator.
What has happened through 2020/1 is a perfect storm of:
- people are buying new audio products (Soundcore) which introduce Bluetooth 5 where previously they owned bluetooth 4.2.
- people have been (forced mostly) to work from home and have merged their work with their play, with (often corporate locked down) laptops.
- what this is causing is a clash of technology of bluetooth with Windows and versions, where subtle complex challenges are created.
So this thread is a sideways solution - use your phone for everything (or at least use it more).
Below you may see some products or brands, I am not recommending any of them, they are illustration purpose only.
You combine these:
Select your idea Soundcore products.
If you’re only using phone then you don’t have to solve multiconnect, and you have a simpler less complex connection.
Use an external monitor
Many own a monitor already, if not, then if investing, consider a monitor with a USB-C connection. A way to also be portable is one with a battery to operate itself and possibly to keep your phone charged.
Example monitors:
Use external keyboard and mouse
Some example setups
(Optional) Use a Hub
Anker makes many hubs, you could consider a powered hub with whatever ports you’d commonly need. You do have to check the phone and hub and peripherals do work together. This is where a “known to work” list below would help.
Example setup video
This one is a non-portable setup
There are plenty of videos of setup, search “Dex portable monitor” or “IMUI desktop” but they all are basically reviews of monitors and I don’t want to accidentally promote a non-Soundcore brand, simple raise to attention a method some may not know.
Pros:
- Lower cost. You use your phone’s compute and storage, and it’s network (for portable non-Wifi mode) and not buy a duplicate set of compute / storage / memory.
- harder to break, long term cost savings. With a laptop, if you drop drinks on it or drop it, often it’s beyond economic repair. With this concept each component can break and you replace the component. The modularity means you are less likely to have a large cost due to an accident.
- simpler audio setup, pick your ideal Soundcore product, and only have to solve connecting it to your phone.
- portable applications, you can use your phone’s screen when moving and use the same apps with the same data on a bigger screen+keyboard+mouse.
- works better offline. Android apps usually have more offline features like media download (NetFlix, Prime, etc) so you can use an external monitor in a place with poor Wifi and get a big screen experience.
- an external monitor is multi-purpose, you can plug in an Intel stick for Windows, Raspberry pi for a full desktop such as a full Firefox browser, or Chromecast.
Cons:
- it’s not as luggable as a laptop, it’s not just lift lid go, you have cables. So this idea is more amenable to a static location like home office, but it does pack away small if a portable monitor.
- Some people must use a specific laptop OS like Windows for corporate reasons. But with this idea all you are really buying of any cost is the monitor and you can make it a 2nd monitor for your laptop as well if you are forced to use Windows 10, but this idea limits that scenario.
Discuss:
Did you know you could do this?
Do you know anyone who’s tried it, did it work well / badly?
Does anyone have the parts now and can demo it with their favourite Soundcore speakers?