4 issues you possibly can 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 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 affordable potential 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 plenty of flexibility in what customers can join, and — in actual fact — 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 am going to truly begin with that one as a style of the probabilities.

Displays and lapdocks

Work from nearly anyplace

One thing that fries my mind in a small manner is that for a few years now, Samsung’s Android telephones have supplied DeX, a function that initiatives a Home windows-style desktop interface whenever you’re linked to a monitor or TV. It could actually’t go toe-to-toe with Home windows 11, but when you could get some writing, spreadsheets, or displays 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 through Desktop Mode. In case your telephone is suitable, the mode switches right into a tablet-style interface with assist for a number of app home windows and a taskbar. Any latest flagship telephone, equivalent to a Pixel 9 or 10, ought to have the ability to run a number of apps directly, together with video games.

There are a number of catches right here. You could want a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter for some shows, and in a desktop atmosphere, you may most likely wish to route the whole lot by way 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 screen, keyboard, and trackpad in a single shot. Consider it as a laptop computer the place your telephone gives the processing.

Word that if you do not have a hub, you may as well join mice and keyboards to your telephone through 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 can depend on an Android telephone having a microSD card slot. Some comfort, nonetheless, is which you could join nearly any exterior SSD (solid-state drive) or card reader to an Android telephone, providing a manner of transferring photographs, movies, music, and different recordsdata to and out of your telephone’s inner storage. Actually, for those who’ve received an motion cam or knowledgeable digital camera, you could possibly switch content material instantly.

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 greater, you may extra possible be working 5Gbps. That is nonetheless quick, however may very well be inconvenient if you could 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 for those who’re utilizing your telephone for skilled work, and even for those who’re simply offloading PEV group ride footage regularly. USB 2.0 dates again to the 12 months 2000 — nobody ought 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 possibly can at all times pair a Bluetooth controller together with your telephone, a USB-C based mostly “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 needn’t prop your telephone up someplace, and you’ll at all times choose up your whole setup and go, a lot as for those who had been enjoying on a Switch 2 or Steam Deck. You could 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 potential enter latency, and my favourite watchword for this text, flexibility. All you could do to change between units is clamp within the new one, so long as it matches the controller’s most dimensions. You could even have the ability to play Home windows video games utilizing your controller so long as you have received a spare USB cable.

Some form of devoted controller is actually necessary for those who care about gaming. Whilst 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 sport emulator, lots of the titles you may be enjoying had been by no means designed with touchscreens in thoughts.

An workplace or front room TV

No media streamer vital

Google discontinued all of its Chromecast dongles in August 2024, which is a disgrace — they had been a extremely moveable manner 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 the event you did not wish to use the bundled distant, you can venture 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 have got 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 possibility, although, a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter ought to allow you to instantly mirror your telephone’s display screen, which can be adequate for those who’re attempting to host a presentation at work, or watch a film at residence. As a bonus, it will 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 easy expertise, all three of those ought to assist 4K decision at a 60Hz refresh price or greater. 30Hz is practical, 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 degree, it is extra possible that your telephone and TV would be the limiting components, particularly since few video games run a lot sooner than 60fps.