Seeing my HDMI-connected 1080p monitor light up with the Windows 10 Start background and my normal Start screen over on the bottom left was still quite exciting though. In desperation, I connected up the Lumia 950 XL and it all worked immediately - so clearly there are still teething troubles here, gremlins for Microsoft to sort out while they attend to the rest of Windows 10 Mobile. I went into the Continuum application and tried connecting while in that - still nothing. Getting going isn't necessarily straightforward - hooking in a Lumia 950 resulted in nothing happening at all. When a Lumia is connected, there's a status light on the front, handily (it goes from red to white), and it's worth highlighting that the two-way nature of USB Type C power means that the phone is being charged all the while it's connected. In which case you could use the spare ports for USB disks or anything else you can find that's compatible. It's a flexible arrangement, though in practice not all these inputs and outputs will be used at once, of course, not least because the keyboard and mouse that you might want to use with Continuum may well be Bluetooth/wireless, saving more space in your briefcase. You also get USB Type C (again) for power and HDMI and Display Port output to a large monitor. I did try random other USB accessories, such as cameras, but you just get a message 'This USB device might not work, please try using it with a PC'! On the back are three USB Type A ports, one with power ( see here for full specs), for hooking up a wired mouse, keyboard and (for example) a USB or hard disk (these appear in File Manager, as you'd expect). On the front is USB Type C, for input from your Lumia 950 or 950 XL (future models will come along in due course that are also compatible).
The Display Dock itself is a machined metal cuboid, with embossed logo on top and a grippy rubber bottom, for staying put when on a desk or table. So what follows contains a lot of disappointment, albeit mingled with glimpses of genuine utility and hope. Except that the software that ties everything together and that should make Continuum a reality is currently (December 2015) only in early beta, at best. Truly your smartphone could be your entire computing experience. The hardware component itself is beautifully made (think Apple Mac build quality) and the concept really, really cool. There's something you should know about the Display Dock and Continuum.
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