Android apps with proper mouse support -- Web browser and Office Suite

[Zarquan314]

I decided I want to be able to use my tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab S2) as a mini-laptop for when I don't want to use my significantly heavier gaming laptop. It has some advantages, like that I can put it and its bluetooth keyboard in my jacket pocket, so I can just have it with me. Since my tablet does not support DeX, I had to go with an alternative.

I installed Sentio, which appears to work decently for my needs. I can right click on anything within Sentio, resize windows, etc. Unfortunately, the Sentio Apps don't work with my tablet (at least, the ones on the Google Play store).

Also unfortunately, most of my apps lack proper mouse support, even if my "desktop" does. My tablet keyboard has a touchpad on it, but using it is such a hassle because the apps don't use the right interface. Almost all of my apps interpret a click and drag as a "move" and a right click as a "back." While I can understand needing to double click and drag thing, the right click drives me crazy.

I just need a web browser and a office suite that allow for standard mouse support.

I have tried Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Neither of them allow me to select text when I click and drag with the mouse and they both close the document when I right click. Is there an office suite that behaves properly with a mouse?

I have tried Firefox, Chrome, and Opera in both desktop mode and not in desktop mode. Right click made me leave the web page I was on. This makes using Overleaf for LaTeX editing almost impossible if I have to rearrange anything. Is there a web browser that behaves properly with a mouse?

Alternatively, as Sentio is supposed to be a desktop UI, is there a way to install the Sentio apps on my Android version 7.0?

 

[SpookDroid]

It's not the app's fault (none support mouse actions natively like that, not on Android): it's the 'desktop' UI/virtual desktop you're using. On DeX, for instance, the standard behaviour for a right click IS a right click (although it's a generic one for the UI, so most apps will still do nothing with that, but the UI will on the general window and on the desktop.

 

[Zarquan314]

It's not the app's fault (none support mouse actions natively like that, not on Android): it's the 'desktop' UI/virtual desktop you're using. On DeX, for instance, the standard behaviour for a right click IS a right click (although it's a generic one for the UI, so most apps will still do nothing with that, but the UI will on the general window and on the desktop.

But that doesn't make sense. Samsung wants DeX to operate as a laptop replacement, therefore the tablet must support laptop features if Samsung knows what a laptop looks like. That's why I'm asking for app suggestions that take this in to account. If they actually expect people to use DeX or want it to be a "laptop replacement" on tablets or use android apps in ChromeOS, they need at least some of the apps to support basic mouse functionality (which includes right click) or no one will want to use it for real work, which would be both Google and Samsung shooting themselves in the foot. Therefore, Google and Samsung almost certainly have made sure that such apps exist. Unless, of course, they don't actually care and made DeX just for the fun of it without any intention of people caring about it.

What I don't understand is why did they take a universal standard like the mouse buttons, ignore their standard functionality, and replace it with something worse in every way? I mean, how would you feel if right click on your computer just closed the window you were using? Middle click closes everything? Is that a functionality that we need so much that it must literally be at our fingertips at all times?

I know that if my laptop's Google Chrome acted this way, I would get a new web browser.

 

[SpookDroid]

Android apps are not the same as Chrome apps nor PC apps. Again, the desktop environment can emulate PC-standard mouse actions (that's not an 'universal' standard, it's a PC one... just ask a MacOS user) but the apps do not. Android was not envisioned to be a desktop environment and even now the desktop mode being vaguely built into Android 10 is just like DeX: Meant for multitasking on a larger screen rather than replicating the PC experience.

The functionality is (mostly) still there, you just have to adapt to the way things are done on a mobile device: long presses, double taps, gestures, etc.

Just like it is with external controllers (i.e. gaming), unless the app has support for it built in, the buttons and joysticks won't do squat on said app. Same for mouse input: unless the app developer really puts special functionality built in, the mouse commands will be the same generic Android ones: left button for tap (or tap/hold) to mimic your finger, and right button used for the Android 'back' function.

If this isn't enough for you, then you are correct, DeX or Android 'desktop' environments aren't for you and you're better off with a PC-like device (I'd suggest a Windows 10 tablet or thinner Chromebook).

 

[Zarquan314]

Android apps are not the same as Chrome apps nor PC apps. Again, the desktop environment can emulate PC-standard mouse actions (that's not an 'universal' standard, it's a PC one... just ask a MacOS user) but the apps do not. Android was not envisioned to be a desktop environment and even now the desktop mode being vaguely built into Android 10 is just like DeX: Meant for multitasking on a larger screen rather than replicating the PC experience.

The functionality is (mostly) still there, you just have to adapt to the way things are done on a mobile device: long presses, double taps, gestures, etc.

Just like it is with external controllers (i.e. gaming), unless the app has support for it built in, the buttons and joysticks won't do squat on said app. Same for mouse input: unless the app developer really puts special functionality built in, the mouse commands will be the same generic Android ones: left button for tap (or tap/hold) to mimic your finger, and right button used for the Android 'back' function.

If this isn't enough for you, then you are correct, DeX or Android 'desktop' environments aren't for you and you're better off with a PC-like device (I'd suggest a Windows 10 tablet or thinner Chromebook).

But what you are saying implies to me that this is controlled on a per app basis, but the standard apps simply don't implement it, possibly due to it making the touch interface worse. Is this the case or am I misunderstanding?

If I understand correctly, this would mean that someone could make a web browser and office suite with the standard mouse interface. I find it hard to believe, with the existence of DeX and other android desktop interfaces, that nobody would make such apps. I'm not expecting a full PC experience. Just a PC-esque experience in two to four apps.

I wouldn't mind so much if right click did nothing. I would find it mildly annoying but understandable and usable in a pinch. What makes it unusable is that it closes the window I'm working in.

I find the idea of needing to buy another computer just for this reason to be silly. Also, I don't know if a computer exists that would fit in my internal coat pocket as nicely as my tablet and its keyboard.

I did some reading and, according to the Samsung DeX website, Word has a "DeX mode." I don't have a DeX device, so I have no idea what that means. Does this mode use a mouse properly?

 

[SpookDroid]

Yes...and no. So, again, the standard mouse option on Android: right click for mimicking your finger tap, left for the back button action (now, since you mention that it closes the window, that IS totally on the app and how they code the action the app will do for a back-button tap). That's what's coded as a generic 'driver' (if you must use PC analogies). That's it. That's what apps can use when coded for Android.

Now, on a per-app basis. Yes, IF the dev would go through the trouble of implementing a special 'driver' or controller app that enables further functionality (coming back to the controller example... game emulators, etc. need a special 'driver' for you to connect a gaming controller and use all of its functions), then yes, they could use a 'standard' PC-like mouse interface. But with DeX pretty much being the only player in the desktop-like environment at the moment and with virtually no first-party accessories with a trackpad, investing in developing time for that isn't a priority for most devs out there.

I tested Word on a Tab S6 DeX mode (which is the Office app, the stand-alone ones are no more) and nope, right-click does nothing. The interface does change a bit in DeX vs using it in tablet/phone mode, but that's about it.

 

[SpookDroid]

Update: Seems Samsung Internet DOES support PC-like right clicks (might need to activate Desktop Mode). Tao kinda goes through some of your issues on this video, and shows what I meant: the use of PC-like mouse actions is entirely up to the app, and DeX will still be mobile apps on a windowed environment.
https://youtu.be/oEmsmKTplyU

 

[Zarquan314]

I tested Word on a Tab S6 DeX mode (which is the Office app, the stand-alone ones are no more) and nope, right-click does nothing. The interface does change a bit in DeX vs using it in tablet/phone mode, but that's about it.

Update: Seems Samsung Internet DOES support PC-like right clicks (might need to activate Desktop Mode). Tao kinda goes through some of your issues on this video, and shows what I meant: the use of PC-like mouse actions is entirely up to the app, and DeX will still be mobile apps on a windowed environment.

Well, right click doing nothing is infinitely better than what it does. I probably wouldn't have even asked for new apps if the right click did nothing.

This might be the case on DeX, but not Sentio apparently. I right click and it closes the window instead of bringing up a menu. Though it wins points due to it being the only browser that lets me select text from the middle of a word with a single click.

Maybe I need to trick them in to thinking they should be in DeX mode?

Now, on a per-app basis. Yes, IF the dev would go through the trouble of implementing a special 'driver' or controller app that enables further functionality (coming back to the controller example... game emulators, etc. need a special 'driver' for you to connect a gaming controller and use all of its functions), then yes, they could use a 'standard' PC-like mouse interface. But with DeX pretty much being the only player in the desktop-like environment at the moment and with virtually no first-party accessories with a trackpad, investing in developing time for that isn't a priority for most devs out there.

I don't think that's the case. App developers have the ability to make right click perform an action of their choosing within their app via method overriding, at least according to people on StackOverflow.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12705117/handle-all-mouse-events-in-android