It may sound crazy, but I’ve been using a phone as my primary PC for most of the past year. My journey started with Moto Ready For on the Moto Edge+ 2023 and moved on to Samsung DeX on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. Here’s what I learned along the way.

1 If you drop your phone, you’re doubly screwed

Dropping your phone is traumatic. Not only do I flinch when my phone falls to the ground, but I also flinch when I see someone else’s phone fall. Then there’s the momentary fear of picking the device up to see if there’s a horrible crack running across the screen.

That fear is bad enough. It’s even worse when your phone isn’t just your phone, it’s also your computer. In my case, it’s also my tablet, my game console, my e-reader – you get the idea.

For me, as someone who works from home, that means that if my phone takes an unfortunate fall and I can’t get it back up, it’s worse than if I just pop my SIM card into a new device and wait for my contacts and photos to download again. My entire workflow revolves around my phone.

I have phone insurance to improve my chances of getting it fixed quickly, but I also keep a separate phone lying around that I regularly sync all my files to, just in case.

2 Dual monitor configurations are off the table

When I connect my phone to an external monitor, it feels like I’m using a desktop thanks to Samsung DeX. The experience is fast and most apps feel like simple desktop apps when shrunk down to a window.

I’ve hooked my phone up to a curved FHD monitor and it’s been great. Sometimes I borrow my wife’s 4K monitor and that works fine too, although there are signs that the phone has to work a little harder (even then I’d say the experience is smoother than on a cheap Windows PC or Chromebook). But for now I’m limited to just one monitor. Neither Dex nor Motorola Connect support multiple monitors without resorting to complicated workarounds using laptops and virtual machines.

3 Some monitors are better than a phone

Connecting to multiple monitors isn’t the only limitation. DeX is currently limited to 60Hz, although my Galaxy Z Fold 5 supports a higher refresh rate on its own built-in displays. This means that if I were to treat myself to a gorgeous gaming monitor like the one pictured above, I wouldn’t get all the benefits.

Why should I invest in a gaming monitor? Android games are more immersive on a larger screen, and I play most games now with AR glasses. When I log into NVIDIA GeForceNOW, most of the time I forget that I’m not playing a game on local hardware. An Android phone can be a better gaming device than you might think, especially if it supports connecting to external displays.

Leaving your phone at 100% charge for long periods of time is not good. Lithium-ion batteries don’t like staying at maximum capacity. For most people, this happens most often when they charge overnight. If you use your phone as a PC, especially if you need it for daily remote work, this can also happen throughout the day.

Because if you plug your phone into a docking station, you probably also have a power adapter plugged into that docking station that will power your phone. If you don’t charge your phone at the same time, you’ll have the more frustrating problem of having to unplug your phone from the monitor every few hours to charge it. Desktop modes can be very taxing on the battery.

This is one of the reasons I wanted a Samsung phone. Samsung offers a battery protection feature that allows me to limit the maximum charge to 80%. This way I can leave my phone plugged in for a whole work day without having to worry about completely destroying my phone’s battery.

5 Lapdock batteries can run out at any time and without warning

I have a wireless lapdock from UPerfect, an alternative to the slightly more popular option from NexDock. By connecting my phone with a USB-C cable, the lapdock becomes a laptop. The lapdock can even power the phone.

If I don’t feel like using a cable and am willing to accept both higher latency and a lower refresh rate, I can opt for a wireless connection instead.

In any case, the Lapdock can shut off without warning. That’s because the battery indicator on the screen shows the remaining charge on my phone. Neither Samsung DeX nor any other device you connect to a Lapdock can show how much juice is left in your peripheral.

I can see the laptop’s battery life by bringing up the settings with a multi-finger swipe in the bottom corner. It works well, but you have to remember to do it and do it often. Lapdocks aren’t exactly known for their best battery life. I can get maybe three or four hours out of mine.

6 You need a USB hub

Most phones have one port, the USB-C port. Even the headphone jack is gone. To connect anything that doesn’t work via Bluetooth, you need a USB hub.

They come in many forms. There is the dongle type, which can be easily stored in your pocket. Then there is the docking station. These are preferable if you work in the same place every day.

Hubs generally allow you to connect flash drives, external SSDs, and external displays to your phone. This is important for making regular backups to an external drive. Some even have an Ethernet port for backing up a wired internet connection or troubleshooting a router.

7 It is worth investing in a foldable book

Flip phones like the Moto Razr are the most popular foldable phones, but book-style foldable phones are productivity powerhouses. If you want to center your workflow around your phone, it makes sense to get a phone that’s designed to get things done.

That’s how I ended up with the Galaxy Z Fold. It’s the only book-style foldable in the US that has a desktop mode. I thought I’d use DeX most of the time and fall back to my phone’s interior screen when needed, but the opposite has been true. I do a lot of my work on the internal screen and launch DeX either when a task requires it or I simply feel the need to sit down at a desk. I can easily type, handwrite, or take notes via voice dictation on my phone’s interior screen. I can also manage app windows as if I were using a PC.

8 You can never have enough portable monitors

If you’ve never tried a portable monitor, give it a try. They’re one of the most versatile investments you can make, providing extra work space for any laptop and a large screen for gaming consoles like the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck. They’re also the perfect complement to a phone with desktop mode.

I have portable monitors in the rooms where we are most likely to want to watch a video. I have two that are about 15 inches and only cost me $60 each. Some are over 22 inches, which is the size of a small TV.

I’m not saying everyone should ditch their PC and do everything on their phone, but my experience has shown me that it’s not hard to imagine a future where many of us do. We have so much power in our pockets that with the right accessories and apps, one day we might not need anything else. For me, that day has already arrived.