I personally don’t have a Steam Deck, but imo I think it can easily replace my phone (in my case) with just Windows 11 Subsystem for Android and a PowerBank. Also, I’m pretty retarded regarding this topic, so I answers for this. Thanks in advance!
installing windows on the steam deck is kinda pointless
You wouldn’t necessarily have to install windows, it might work through Proton. But this still doesn’t seem like a good idea…
Unless what you need is an IP phone, you also need a cellular modem that supports voice calls… plus a user interface for interacting with the said modem.
Windows 11 Subsystem for Android can’t help as passing through hardware and having the right Android kernel that has the right driver can be a nightmare.
P.S. I think it is more feasible to set up an IP-phone-to-cellular gateway, say, at your home. And call on your deck with IP phone dialing to the gateway. You can connect to cellular data service on your deck with some cheap 4G USB modem sticks. If you want 5G, the cost can be quite steep. Yeah when there is a will, there is always a way.
It might technically work, but it would be difficult to set up and the experience would be poor. The Steam Deck is HUGE, and its touchscreen is not very sensitive or accurate compared to a modern smartphone. Plus, using it to emulate Android would be very janky, and it doesn’t have 4G/5G radios so you’d need to stay connected to Wifi.
If you’re just looking for voice calls, a simpler solution might be to use a VoIP service that you could access in the built-in browser, no weird installs required. But then you’d have to leave it on in Desktop Mode all the time to receive calls reliably, so it’s not a great experience. If you’re looking for a full replacement for a smartphone…no.
Hi, can you please edit the r-slur out of your post. Thank you.
One thing he wont be able to redact is his username though.
I was under the impression Microsoft or Valve said that Windows 11 on the deck would never support Android apps. If that’s not true I might boot up a windows SSD 👀
It doesn’t have the hardware required for cell use, so you’d be limited to IP phone apps like Google Voice. Seems kind of pointless.
You don’t even need Windows. You can run Android apps on Linux using Waydroid.
