Did you know that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro , in addition to serving as a smartphone, can double as a desktop workstation ? All you need is an external monitor, a keyboard, and a cable —or even the keyboard, if you really want to be honest. We'll explain step by step how to turn your Mate 20 Pro into a makeshift PC and what advantages this feature offers on your smartphone.
Turn your Mate 20 Pro into a PC
Turning your Huawei smartphone into a workstation is much easier than you think. The Chinese company has equipped its flagship with a powerful processor, the Kirin 980 , featuring 7nm processing technology, which guarantees direct performance improvements in terms of speed and energy efficiency. You can find many more details about how this phone's core works in this other article about the Mate 20 Pro as a multimedia companion.
Thanks to the Kirin processor, the phone performs flawlessly not only as a smartphone but also as a makeshift PC . With just a cable, an external monitor, and a peripheral device, you can connect the phone and use it as a workstation, enjoying a desktop-like menu on your screen and working as if you were at your home office.
The Mate 20 Pro in Wired Desktop mode
To do this, you'll need a few extra accessories. The first is a USB Type-C to HDMI cable . This will allow you to send information from your phone to your external monitor, another key element for setting 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 lets you use its wireless Desktop mode . How is that possible? By using a monitor that supports Wi-Fi.
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 you'll surely want to know. For example, your Huawei Mate 20 Pro's screen can also be used as a mouse . To do this, slide down the notification panel while it's connected to the monitor and access the touchpad. The screen will then 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 the work interface itself , it's a customized environment where you won't even find all the apps on your device. You'll only see the most useful ones for the work mode you're in, allowing you to access, as we mentioned before, the calendar, web browser, Gmail, or photo gallery, for example. Needless to say, you'll also have Huawei's own solutions at hand, giving you access to proprietary apps that are equally useful in Desktop mode.
It makes sense that you'll want to use the Huawei Mate 20 Pro's Desktop mode for productivity purposes , so you'll find it useful to have some apps installed for that purpose, such as the Microsoft Office suite (with Word and Excel, among others), which is compatible with Android and available on the Google Play Store. Another excellent option is to work with cloud-based solutions. In this case, Google Docs is a fantastic choice for working with a word processor and accessing your files from anywhere thanks to its cloud storage.
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro's Desktop Mode is perhaps one of the phone's least-known features, despite being one of the smartphone's most useful and powerful capabilities . Thanks to this option, you have a mobile workstation that you can set up anytime, anywhere, allowing you to work with your personalized desktop wherever you go.