Just did a test with yet another Dell docking station model that also does DP over USB-C - I have plenty of them at work - and had the same problem as you this time.
Here are the models I have tested :
Dell U2421H monitor : display works, phone charges, keyboard/mouse works
Dell WD15 docking station : display works, phone charges, keyboard/mouse works
Dell DA300 USB/VGA/RJ45/HDMI adapter : display works, keyboard/mouse works, does not charge (this device is not supposed to)
Dell DS1000 docking station : display does not work, phone charges, keyboard/mouse works, station’s USB-C cable LED does not light up (as it does with laptops)
Actually, these products from DELL are things I had lying around at work and are overkill for use with a phone. They’re docking stations for laptops, some of them support multiple monitors, etc.
If I had to buy something to connect a phone to a screen, keyboard and stuff, I would rather look at this kind of device (no idea if this specific model works though).
I imagine Samsung Dex compatible docks should work. However, since the Fairphone has no Dex-equivalent functionality, all you’ll get is your phone screen mirrored on your monitor, and not a full fledged desktop environment like what Dex offers.
Ahah funny, I was actually precisely reading this devices page on Amazon when I got your notification. Could be worth trying.
Thanks for the quick answers !
Thanks for your tests! To reiterate: The Dell DS1000 docking station does not seem to be a Thunderbolt 3 device. So my assumption that Thunderbolt is the problem is not supported by your results.
I hope we can get some more people to test this
A setup that works for me: some old IIyama monitor with DP, a mini-DP cable, a USB-C to mini-DP adapter, my FP4. Then the screen is mirrored on the monitor.
I have just read the monitor’s manual and its USB-C port can be used to provide a USB hub function, and the manual suggests (but doesn’t explicitly say) that that is what you get if you don’t connect a Thunderbolt device. Could you try connecting a mouse or keyboard to the monitor’s built-in hub and see whether your phone responds to those?
You might get video displayed using the HDMI/DP input and a converter cable if Thunderbolt is indeed the problem, but then you can’t charge off the monitor.
So… the last reply promted me to take another look. And after having already tested the default Thunderbolt 3 cable (that came with the monitor) and a USB-C cable, I realized I had one other Thunderbolt 3 cable lying around. I tried it with the FP4 and everything worked: Mirrored display, power, USB-hub mouse input. With about 50 cm length, the working Thunderbolt cable is much shorter than the not-working cable. That is the only difference I can see from the outside.
Yay! I am glad it is actually working. I don’t really plan on using it much. But hey, maybe somewhere down the line Android will have a better deskop experience, not just a mirrored screen. And then my hardware is ready for it
So I thought i owed to report after receiving this dock.
I plugged my phone on it and instantly got: display + mouse + keyboard + charging device working.
But then funny things happened.
I was kind of happy but frustrated to be stuck to portait mode while navigating in menu, browser etc. as the dock isn’t made to rotate the device.
So I installed an app to force changing orientation and it started messing up with resolution:
external hdmi display was suddenly all pixelated, like 480p or something
device screen was suddenly weirdly displaying font smaller, as if DPI was changed although no modification was made whatsoever.
I ended up unplugging the device, uninstalling the orientation-forcing app, when I plugged it back:
hdmi display wasn’t working
mouse + keyboard wasn’t working
device was charging
Only solution was to reboot the device.
In the end I found out installing the app “SecondScreen” was the best way to use this feature.
It allows you to create profiles that will automatically set custom DPI and desired screen orientation when a second screen is plugged.
Hello!
I tried to plug my FP4 to the two models of docking station we have at work, but unlucky me: the FP4 charges and that’s all . No screen mirroring…
The one from Lenovo uses Thunderbolt 3 over USB-C, that used to only be available on Intel hardware according to Wikipedia:
Before March 2019, there were no AMD chipsets or computers with Thunderbolt support released or announced due to the certification requirements (Intel did not certify non-Intel platforms).
[…]
As of May 2019, it is possible to have Thunderbolt 3 support on AMD using add-in cards
So far I haven’t found phones with Thunderbolt 3 support, seems unlikely.
The one from Gearlab uses DisplayLink®, so probably no native DisplayPort output either. According to Wikipedia there’s a Android App available here. Have you tried it with that one?
I just installed DisplayLink Presenter that have the same developer and same description as the demo one, and it is working
No need to open the app, when docking is plugged it just prompt a pop-up asking if I allow screen mirroring, then my phone is duplicated on the external display
Dear all,
I registered here to learn more about FP4 display port over USB-C feature.
I have a ASUS SimPro Dock, not a thunderbolt 3 dock but featuring 2 video outputs using either DP/HDMI/VGA. (any combination of 2 of those).
First connected to HP 24" 1080p screen, the image i have is a weird, stretched out 640x480 image. Same result with either HDMI or VGA input on that display.
Same result with a Dell Ultrawide 3440x1440 with the same dock (I don’t have USB-C input directly on that display). Using HDMI.
Using FP4 → Dock → DisplayPort cable to that same Dell Ultrawide doesn’t display anything. (display goes into sleep mode).
Both displays tell me the input is “640x480 60Hz”. I can’t understand why. It looks like you all managed to get 1080p out, from what I read here.
If I go into the Developper options, I can get the video to behave as a “second” screen, but still at 640x480x60Hz.
I can connect the FP4 to both screens simultaneously but that just duplicates the same display.
Thank you for any hint you pay have to get a proper resolution.
Olivier
After reading this thread I thought it will be expensive and and time-consuming to get a usb-v to HDMI connection working. But it seems I had luck - the UGREEN USB C Hub worked plug & play without any config.
. No screen mirroring…
