It was called "Continuum" and was introduced with Windows 10 Mobile. Worked pretty smoothly but it couldn't run win32 application only the new modern UWP apps. Introduced 6 Oct 2015 alongside the Nokia Lumia 950/950 XL. Discontinued when Windows 10 Mobile reached end of support in Dec 2019.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/de...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Continuum

I remember when MS was pushing UWP apps hard. So many things needlessly handicapped. I'm glad they seem to have kinda given up on that now.

UWP was limited because it was the subset that could run on PC, Xbox, Phone, and HoloLens. Being able to make one responsive app and deploy it across that ecosystem was pretty awesome.

But when you kill the non-PC platforms, you're just left with a reduced capability version of windows apps

I'm not aware of any Windows Phone implementation like this that existed commercially. Can you point me to it?

The first modern thing like this that I can recall is the 2011 Android-based Motorola Atrix phone[1] that presented a DeX-like desktop (well before DeX!).

It used an Ubuntu-based desktop. It was really, really good, but never got traction.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Atrix_4G

The HP Elite x3 had it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Elite_x3 . The phone came with a docking cradle with desktop ports.

It did. I have the 950xl and the display dock. At the time, it was such an awesome feature that the world and how we work was not ready for yet. https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Display-Dock-Lumia-HD-500/d...

Freaking cool. I don't know how I missed/forgot this, having been so immersed in the Windows Phone world. Thanks!

I feel like this is something that could spur Windows/Windows Phone adoption in modern times.

Display connectors were a problem back then. Now you can just use USB C.

They did. The lumia had this feature. It also had a liquid cooling system. But the windows computer was quite limited. This was before they migrated to windows one core.