4 issues you may 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 gadget can look radically totally different from one other, even when there is a core underlying interface. There’s typically extra leeway in what Android apps can do than ones on an iPhone, and there is additionally a wider vary of {hardware} specs — the whole lot from the most cost effective potential price range telephones to foldables that price 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 — the truth is — you are not taking full benefit of your telephone if you have not tried to plug in something extra refined 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 will truly begin with that one as a style of the probabilities.

Displays and lapdocks

Work from virtually anyplace

One thing that fries my mind in a small means is that for a few years now, Samsung’s Android telephones have supplied DeX, a characteristic that initiatives a Home windows-style desktop interface whenever you’re related to a monitor or TV. It could’t go toe-to-toe with Home windows 11, but when it’s essential to get some writing, spreadsheets, or shows finished, 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, corresponding to a Pixel 9 or 10, ought to have the ability to run a number of apps without delay, together with video games.

There are a number of catches right here. It’s possible you’ll want a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter for some shows, and in a desktop setting, you may most likely wish to route the whole lot via 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 supplies the processing.

Observe that if you do not have a hub, you can even join mice and keyboards to your telephone by way of Bluetooth. Simply do not count on 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, nonetheless, is you can join nearly any exterior SSD (solid-state drive) or card reader to an Android telephone, providing a means of transferring pictures, movies, music, and different recordsdata to and out of your telephone’s inside storage. The truth is, in case you’ve acquired an motion cam or an expert digicam, you could possibly switch content material immediately.

Do take note of the USB speeds of your telephone, cable, and something you join, nonetheless. Whereas some telephones and equipment could also be able to information transfers as much as 10Gbps or increased, you may extra probably be working 5Gbps. That is nonetheless quick, however could possibly be inconvenient if it’s essential to 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 will take 40 seconds at 10Gbps will stretch out to just about 14 minutes. You may most likely need an improve in case you’re utilizing your telephone for skilled work, and even in case you’re simply offloading PEV group ride footage frequently. USB 2.0 dates again to the yr 2000 — nobody ought to be together with it on trendy {hardware}. I am you, Apple.

Sport controllers

Who wants a console?

Credit score: Pocket-lint / Spine

Though you may all the time pair a Bluetooth controller along with your telephone, a USB-C primarily based “vice” controller just like the Spine One or Razer Kishi V3 is often preferable for a number of causes. The obvious one is comfort — you need not prop your telephone up someplace, and you may all the time choose up your whole setup and go, a lot as in case you have been taking part in on a Switch 2 or Steam Deck. It’s possible you’ll 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 embrace the bottom potential enter latency, and my favourite watchword for this text, flexibility. All it’s essential to do to modify between gadgets is clamp within the new one, so long as it suits the controller’s most dimensions. It’s possible you’ll even have the ability to play Home windows video games utilizing your controller so long as you have acquired a spare USB cable.

Some type of devoted controller is basically obligatory in case you care about gaming. When you would possibly have the ability 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 traditional recreation emulator, lots of the titles you may be taking part in have been by no means designed with touchscreens in thoughts.

An workplace or front room TV

No media streamer obligatory

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

If all you’ve got is your telephone, many TVs now have Google Solid built-in, and you may additionally have the ability to use Samsung DeX or Android 16’s Desktop Mode, as I discussed initially. When none of these items are an possibility, although, a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter ought to allow you to immediately mirror your telephone’s display screen, which can be ok in case you’re making an attempt to host a presentation at work, or watch a film at residence. As a bonus, it will allow you to play media that will 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 increased. 30Hz is useful, however will not have the ability 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 probably that your telephone and TV would be the limiting elements, particularly since few video games run a lot quicker than 60fps.