Did you know that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, in addition to serving as a smartphone, it can act as a workstation to desktop mode? You only need for it an external monitor, a keyboard and a cable -and if you rush us, not even the third. We are going to explain step by step how to turn the Mate 20 Pro into an improvised PC unit and what advantages it has to have this functionality on your smartphone.
Turn your Mate 20 Pro into a PC
Making a Huawei smartphone a workstation is much easier than you think. The Chinese company has equipped its flagship with a powerful processor, the Kirin 980, with 7nm processing technology, which guarantees direct performance improvements in terms of speed and energy efficiency -in this other article on the Mate 20 pro as a multimedia companion you can find many more details about how the heart of this phone works.
Thanks to this mentioned Kirin, the phone is capable of moving with solvency not only when it comes to acting as a smartphone; also if we use it as makeshift PC drive. With the single use of a cable, an external monitor and a peripheral, it is possible to connect the terminal and serve as a work center, being able to enjoy your own desktop menu on the screen and work as if you were at home.
The Mate 20 Pro in Wired Desktop mode
To be able to do this you are going to need some extra accessories. The first of them is a usb type c to hdmi cable. This will allow you to send the information from the phone to the external monitor that you have, another of the key elements to set up this workstation.
Obviously, if you want to work as if it were a desktop PC, you also need a mouse and keyboard, both with Bluetooth support, which will be connected to the phone for use. We see step by step how to get everything ready:
- Check connect bluetooth keyboard and mouse with phone. Go to the terminal Settings => "Device connection" and enter "Bluetooth". If your peripherals do not appear in the Available Devices section, click on "Search" (at the bottom of the screen) to have them detected. Once they appear, click on them so that they are linked.
- Once the peripherals are linked, it's time to connect the phone to the monitor. To do this, take the cable that we have indicated before and connect it to the phone (USB-C) and to the monitor (HDMI).
- You will see how a special menu appears on the phone in which you are given the option to clone the screen (see what you see on your mobile on the monitor) or use it as a work unit (Desktop mode). We press this second option.
- The EMUI Desktop logo will appear on the monitor and after that an Android-based desktop with different application icons (Google Mas, Chrome, Drive, etc.). You already have it ready to use as if it were the desktop at home.
The Mate 20 Pro in Desktop mode with wireless connection
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro also allows you to make use of its Wireless Desktop mode. How is that possible? Well, with the use of a monitor that has WiFi support.
In case yours does have this option, the procedures to follow to connect the phone are slightly different from those of cable, but just as simple and quick to execute:
- Enter the options menu of your monitor or external display and look for the section that allows you to select the «screen mirroring» (depending on the brand of your monitor, this function will be called in one way or another). Activate it.
- On your Mate 20 Pro phone, make sure you have Wi-Fi turned on and slide the notification panel down to find the «Wireless projection«. Click on it to search and find the external screen. Once it appears on the phone, select it and you will have the Huawei terminal connected to the monitor.
There are some extra details and tricks that you will surely like to know. For example the screen of your Huawei Mate 20 Pro can also be used as a mouse. To do this, slide the notification panel down while connected to the monitor and access the touch panel. The screen will become a kind of trackpad where you can move your finger as if you were using a mouse and even use certain gestures.
as for his own work interface, it is a personalized environment in which you will not even find all the applications that you have on the device. You will only see those that are most useful for the work mode you are in, being able to access, as we indicated before, the calendar, the web browser, Gmail or the photo gallery, for example. It goes without saying that you will also have Huawei's own solutions at hand, thus having access to home applications that are equally useful in Desktop mode.
The most logical thing is that you want to use the Desktop mode of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro with productivity goals, so it will be interesting for you to have some apps installed for this purpose, such as the Microsoft package (with Word and Excel, among others) compatible with Android and available in the Google Play store. Likewise, another very valid option is to work with solutions in the cloud. In this case, Google Documents are a fantastic option to work with a word processor and have access to the file from anywhere thanks to its location in the cloud.
The Desktop mode of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is possibly one of the most unknown options on the phone despite being one of the useful and powerful features offered by the smartphone. Thanks to this option you can have a mobile work unit that you can set up at any time and above all in any place, allowing you to work with your personalized desk wherever you go.