There’s something satisfying about giving an old piece of tech another reason to exist. My Pixel 4 XL has had several green lines running across its screen after a fall broke it. The touch has been hit-or-miss, and while the phone still works, using it was frustrating enough that I just left it sitting and moved to my tablet instead.

But I think I just found a way to make the old phone useful again without staring at its damaged screen. I connected it to my laptop to see for myself.

This wasn’t the mirroring I expected

I didn’t think an old phone could feel like this

The tool I used is Android DeX, a free Windows app that delivers a Samsung DeX-like experience for Android devices.

Now, there are some differences between Samsung DeX and Android DeX. For example, I expected Android DeX to mirror the phone to my PC like DeX, but Android DeX requires you to install software on the device you want to use as the mirror. In that, it’s an extra step, but it can be worth it to get an old phone up and running again.

First, I downloaded Android DeX and installed it on my laptop, then enabled USB debugging in the phone’s Developer Options. With the app installed on my Windows 11 laptop, I plugged the Pixel in with a USB-C cable.

I was a little surprised to find that Android DeX opens in a Windows application instead of simply mirroring the phone screen. I got a desktop-style way to access the Pixel’s Android environment from my laptop. I could use the Android apps in their own windows while still using Windows normally outside Android DeX.

There was a taskbar, an app drawer, and separate windows, giving me a DeX-like experience without Samsung hardware.

I opened YouTube, Brave, Telegram, Chrome, and a bunch of other apps inside Android DeX to see how far I could push it. I resized, minimized, expanded, snapped two side by side, and closed them like regular Windows apps. I even placed a call with no issues whatsoever. My laptop’s mouse and keyboard worked too. I could reply to messages, type in apps, and drag windows around without touching the phone.

That was probably what I liked most about Android DeX. The Pixel remained useful on its own without interfering with the desktop experience, which is a plus for me, as the phone occasionally ghost-touches and disrupts my work.

I forgot my phone screen was broken

The screen stopped being the point

The biggest benefit was obvious. I didn’t have to use the Pixel’s damaged screen anymore. Android DeX is its own environment. In fact, turning off the phone’s screen didn’t affect it at all.

It has quick settings, volume controls, Android settings, a Now playing widget, and all active app icons in the taskbar below. Copying text on one side showed up on the other almost instantly, and every notification, Telegram, WhatsApp, or even the weather app, dropped in DeX’s own notification bar.

At one point, I forgot I was still inside Android and reached for the Windows Start menu to open another app.

Though I could use most of my abandoned apps again, some will stay locked in portrait even after you expand their windows to full screen. Video playback also stuttered in the background if my mouse was focused on other apps. Small things, but they were there.

It works wirelessly, too

I didn’t have to keep my phone plugged in

After using Android DeX over USB, I tried the wireless connection. I enabled Wireless debugging in Developer Options and added the phone to Android DeX using its IP address and port. I didn’t need to install anything else on the phone as the Windows app handled the desktop side.

With the cable out of the way, the setup became more practical. I moved the Pixel out of the way and could focus on using the apps via Android DeX on the laptop without worrying about cable shake or disconnection.

I’d always assumed only Samsung phones could do something like this, and I envied that. So seeing it work with my old Pixel without root or any special specs was a pleasant surprise.

It comes with some costs

Everything rests on Windows to work

The more I used Android DeX, the more obvious its biggest limitation became. My laptop was part of the setup and was doing the heavy lifting. This wasn’t turning my Pixel into a standalone PC that I could take anywhere and use like a laptop. I was only using the phone through Windows.

So, when I opened Telegram on the Pixel while using it on DeX, the desktop version stopped responding. YouTube and other video players did the same thing. Whatever apps I touched on the Pixel took over.

There are also performance issues. The more apps I used, the slower DeX became. The session would self-close if I had more than six apps running simultaneously. Although I don’t use that many apps when using the Pixel normally, maybe a few at best. I was just curious to find its limit.

The drain on the laptop’s battery was an even bigger concern for me. It went from fully charged to dead in under an hour. So I tried a lighter session with only an app open and nothing else running on Windows besides Android DeX. I still lost half the battery in under thirty minutes.

I checked what was actually draining the laptop, and the Task Manager showed DeX using around 45% CPU at one point.

While I wouldn’t say this is the benchmark for everyone because my laptop is a bit old, it still gives me between three and five hours of regular use. So, seeing the battery drained that fast was a shock.

For my setup, running Android DeX far from a charger isn’t something I would try unless I absolutely need to. The laptop is still doing enough work that I’d rather keep it plugged in.

My Pixel 4 XL earned its place back

Before the screen got bad, I mainly used the Pixel. I didn’t expect I would ever use it for anything serious again once I dropped it, but Android DeX gave me a way to use it without relying on the broken screen.

Obviously, the screen is still damaged, and DeX simply isn’t replacing my laptop. The battery cost alone rules that out, plus I wouldn’t use it away from home.

But at home, where I can keep everything charged, it’s now one of the first apps running whenever my PC is on. In fact, I’ve been using it far more than the tablet now without thinking about it, because it centralizes my work. I can place or receive a call and do everything else without looking away from my PC. And most importantly, I don’t have to squint to see through the lines to do anything anymore.