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

As a platform, Android’s key power is arguably flexibility. The software program on one system can look radically completely 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 — every thing from the most cost effective attainable funds 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 quite a lot of flexibility in what customers can join, and — in reality — 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 may notice, typically changing a laptop computer in a pinch. I am going to truly begin with that one as a style of the probabilities.

Screens and lapdocks

Work from nearly wherever

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

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 assist for a number of app home windows and a taskbar. Any current flagship telephone, akin to a Pixel 9 or 10, ought to have the ability 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 atmosphere, you will most likely wish to route every thing by means of a USB-C hub for the sake of connecting a mouse, keyboard, and energy provide. An alternative choice to this can be a lapdock, which will get you a display, keyboard, and trackpad in a single shot. Consider it as a laptop computer the place your telephone supplies the processing.

Word that if you do not have a hub, it’s also possible to 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 does not have a way of charging concurrently.

Exterior SSDs and card readers

Prepared to dump (and onload)

Gone are the times when you might depend 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 method of transferring photographs, movies, music, and different information to and out of your telephone’s inner storage. In truth, if you happen to’ve obtained an motion cam or an expert digicam, you might be able to 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 will extra possible be working 5Gbps. That is nonetheless quick, however might be inconvenient if that 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 may take 40 seconds at 10Gbps will stretch out to almost 14 minutes. You will most likely need an improve if you happen to’re utilizing your telephone for skilled work, and even if you happen to’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 taking a look at 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 just a few causes. The obvious one is comfort — you needn’t prop your telephone up someplace, and you’ll all the time decide up your whole setup and go, a lot as if you happen to have 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 embrace the bottom attainable enter latency, and my favourite watchword for this text, flexibility. All that you must do to change between units is clamp within the new one, so long as it suits the controller’s most dimensions. You might even have the ability to play Home windows video games utilizing your controller so long as you’ve got obtained a spare USB cable.

Some form of devoted controller is actually obligatory if you happen to care about gaming. When you may 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 sport emulator, most of the titles you will be taking part in have been by no means designed with touchscreens in thoughts.

An workplace or lounge TV

No media streamer essential

Google discontinued all of its Chromecast dongles in August 2024, which is a disgrace — they have been a extremely transportable method 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. Should you did not wish to use the bundled distant, you might mission absolutely anything onto a TV utilizing Google Solid. The Chromecast has since been changed by the Google TV Streamer, however that is not almost as straightforward to stuff in a bag or pocket.

If all you might have is your telephone, many TVs now have Google Solid built-in, and you might also have the ability to use Samsung DeX or Android 16’s Desktop Mode, as I discussed originally. When none of this stuff are an choice, although, a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter ought to allow you to immediately mirror your telephone’s display, which can be adequate if you happen to’re attempting to host a presentation at work, or watch a film at residence. As a bonus, this may allow you to play media that may 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 clean expertise, all three of those ought to assist 4K decision at a 60Hz refresh price or increased. 30Hz is purposeful, however will not have the ability to sustain with graphics operating past 30 frames per second. Some adapters are already able to 4K at 144Hz. At that stage, it is extra possible that your telephone and TV would be the limiting components, particularly since few video games run a lot quicker than 60fps.