4 issues you possibly can plug into your Android telephone’s USB port (that are not chargers)

As a platform, Android’s key energy is arguably flexibility. The software program on one machine can look radically completely different from one other, even when there is a core underlying interface. There’s usually extra leeway in what Android apps can do than ones on an iPhone, and there is additionally a wider vary of {hardware} specs — all the things from the most cost effective attainable price range telephones to foldables that value as a lot as a gaming PC.

Android additionally adopted USB-C a few years earlier than Apple did. That has given the platform lots of flexibility in what customers can join, and — actually — you are not taking full benefit of your telephone if you have not tried to plug in something extra subtle than a charger. Not that it is required — it is simply that your telephone can deal with much more than you would possibly notice, generally changing a laptop computer in a pinch. I am going to truly begin with that one as a style of the chances.

Screens and lapdocks

Work from virtually wherever

One thing that fries my mind in a small approach is that for a few years now, Samsung’s Android telephones have provided DeX, a characteristic that initiatives a Home windows-style desktop interface once you’re linked to a monitor or TV. It could actually’t go toe-to-toe with Home windows 11, but when you must get some writing, spreadsheets, or displays achieved, it may be a lifesaver. I do know I would not try and churn out an article if I needed to cram all my writing and analysis onto a six-inch telephone display screen.

What’s good is that Google lastly determined to bake this into Android 16 by way of Desktop Mode. In case your telephone is appropriate, the mode switches right into a tablet-style interface with help for a number of app home windows and a taskbar. Any latest flagship telephone, equivalent to a Pixel 9 or 10, ought to be capable to run a number of apps directly, together with video games.

There are just a few catches right here. You might want a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter for some shows, and in a desktop surroundings, you will most likely wish to route all the things by way of a USB-C hub for the sake of connecting a mouse, keyboard, and energy provide. A substitute for this can be a lapdock, which will get you a display screen, keyboard, and trackpad in a single shot. Consider it as a laptop computer the place your telephone offers the processing.

Be aware that if you do not have a hub, you can too join mice and keyboards to your telephone by way of Bluetooth. Simply do not anticipate your telephone to final lengthy in DeX or Desktop Mode if it would not have a way of charging concurrently.

Exterior SSDs and card readers

Prepared to dump (and onload)

Gone are the times when you possibly can rely on an Android telephone having a microSD card slot. Some comfort, nevertheless, is that you could join nearly any exterior SSD (solid-state drive) or card reader to an Android telephone, providing a approach of transferring photographs, movies, music, and different information to and out of your telephone’s inner storage. In truth, should you’ve acquired an motion cam or an expert digital camera, you could possibly switch content material straight.

Do take note of the USB speeds of your telephone, cable, and something you join, nevertheless. Whereas some telephones and equipment could also be able to knowledge transfers as much as 10Gbps or larger, you will extra possible be working 5Gbps. That is nonetheless quick, however could possibly be inconvenient if you must switch dozens of gigabytes of 4K footage.

Watch out for something limiting you to USB 2.0 speeds, which peak at simply 480Mbps. That sounds fast relative to your web connection — however a 50GB switch that might take 40 seconds at 10Gbps will stretch out to almost 14 minutes. You may most likely need an improve should you’re utilizing your telephone for skilled work, and even should you’re simply offloading PEV group ride footage regularly. USB 2.0 dates again to the yr 2000 — nobody needs to be together with it on fashionable {hardware}. I am you, Apple.

Recreation controllers

Who wants a console?

Credit score: Pocket-lint / Spine

Though you possibly can all the time pair a Bluetooth controller together with your telephone, a USB-C primarily based “vice” controller just like the Spine One or Razer Kishi V3 is often preferable for just a few causes. The obvious one is comfort — you need not prop your telephone up someplace, and you’ll all the time choose up your total setup and go, a lot as should you had been taking part in on a Switch 2 or Steam Deck. You might want to make use of passthrough charging to keep away from draining your telephone in a rush, however some extra superior fashions sport their very own batteries.

Different perks embody the bottom attainable enter latency, and my favourite watchword for this text, flexibility. All you must do to modify between gadgets is clamp within the new one, so long as it suits the controller’s most dimensions. You might even be capable to play Home windows video games utilizing your controller so long as you have acquired a spare USB cable.

Some form of devoted controller is basically necessary should you care about gaming. When you would possibly be capable to play one thing like Civilization VI with contact gestures alone, platformers like Blasphemous and shooters like Fortnite are going to be depressing with out D-pads or analog sticks. If you wish to run a basic recreation emulator, lots of the titles you will be taking part in had been by no means designed with touchscreens in thoughts.

An workplace or front room TV

No media streamer mandatory

Google discontinued all of its Chromecast dongles in August 2024, which is a disgrace — they had been a extremely transportable approach of bringing your favourite media streaming apps to any TV. You’d plug one into an HDMI port and growth, Google TV simply the way in which you prefer it. In case you did not wish to use the bundled distant, you possibly can challenge absolutely anything onto a TV utilizing Google Forged. The Chromecast has since been changed by the Google TV Streamer, however that is not practically as simple to stuff in a bag or pocket.

If all you will have is your telephone, many TVs now have Google Forged built-in, and you might also be capable to use Samsung DeX or Android 16’s Desktop Mode, as I discussed firstly. When none of these items are an choice, although, a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter ought to allow you to straight mirror your telephone’s display screen, which can be adequate should you’re making an attempt to host a presentation at work, or watch a film at house. As a bonus, this can allow you to play media that might in any other case play badly over a wi-fi connection or solely be accessible on-device. For a gaming setup, this and a Bluetooth controller could also be all you want.

Take note of the output specs of your telephone and adapter, and the enter specs of the HDMI port you are plugging into. For a easy expertise, all three of those ought to help 4K decision at a 60Hz refresh charge or larger. 30Hz is useful, however will not be capable to sustain with graphics working past 30 frames per second. Some adapters are already able to 4K at 144Hz. At that degree, it is extra possible that your telephone and TV would be the limiting elements, particularly since few video games run a lot quicker than 60fps.