Yes, you can use DeX and turn your phone into a media center for the living room TV. The thing to understand is how the system behaves: when you plug the device straight into an HDMI cable, Android opens the default DeX interface, built for productivity at a desk, with floating windows, a mouse cursor and small icons. If what you want is something closer to a real TV box — a full-screen landscape picture and navigation that works from the couch with a remote — the system is going to need a few settings changed.
Compatibility and connection requirements
Video output and the DeX feature work on the Galaxy S line (S8 through S25), Note, Z Fold, Z Flip7, Tab S and the Galaxy A90 5G. The vast majority of the Galaxy A line, and the FE versions without the feature (like the Tab S9 FE and the Tab S10 Lite), don't send a video signal over the cable at all. The model-by-model list is in which Galaxy phones and tablets support Samsung DeX.
On the hardware side, this needs a USB-C to HDMI cable or a USB-C hub with charging support (Power Delivery). Ordinary charging cables won't do the job, because they don't carry the lanes for video — what to look for before buying is in how to choose the right cable or adapter. My own picks are at the bottom of this note.
The Android settings to change
To make it comfortable and hassle-free to use, it's worth setting a few things on the device:
- Display and picture: turn off the screen timeout and lock rotation to landscape. Set the resolution to the TV's 16:9 format (Full HD, 2K or 4K) and adjust the screen density (DPI) to get rid of black bars. If the image ends up cropped at the edges, just set the aspect in the TV's own menu to "16:9" or "Fit to screen".
- Comfort of use: increase font and icon sizes so everything is readable from a distance, turn on Do Not Disturb to keep notifications from landing in the middle of the screen, and remove the lock screen so you go straight into the apps.
- Navigation and system: swap the on-screen buttons for gesture navigation, zero out the Android animations so the response to the remote feels faster, and turn off the interface's click sounds.
- Care and preservation: enable the 85% battery charge limit to reduce thermal wear with the device permanently plugged in, and disable automatic updates to preserve the settings you applied.
If the TV shows no picture at all before you even get to these settings, that's a different problem: the most common black-screen and "no signal" cases are covered in why DeX/HDMI won't connect.
The final piece of the setup
To finish it off, the ideal move is to replace the home screen with a launcher built for TV, leaving the streaming apps organized in large blocks that are easy to navigate with a remote. That one change creates a smart TV layer on top of Android and DeX, with no need to root the phone or replace its original ROM.
And the remote is what closes the experience: once the interface is laid out in big blocks, navigating with a mouse stops making any sense.
It does take some time, a set of Android settings and a few ADB commands, but the payoff is a complete transformation of the smartphone into a TV box. It's the same destination as the Z Flip 5 I imported already turned into a TV box, only without opening the device up — and a good reason to look again at the phone forgotten in the drawer.
What I recommend
- Baseus USB-C hub — multiple ports with HDMI output and charging support: this is what settles the hardware side of the connection, with the phone plugged into the TV and charging at the same time.
- New G60S Pro remote — air mouse with gyroscope and voice input: this is the remote I use to navigate on the TV once the interface is already laid out in big blocks.