4 issues you’ll be able to plug into your Android cellphone’s USB port (that are not chargers)

As a platform, Android’s key energy 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 cost effective doable funds 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 quite a lot of flexibility in what customers can join, and — in truth — you are not taking full benefit of your cellphone if you have not tried to plug in something extra refined than a charger. Not that it is required — it is simply that your cellphone can deal with much more than you would possibly understand, generally changing a laptop computer in a pinch. I will truly begin with that one as a style of the probabilities.

Screens and lapdocks

Work from virtually anyplace

One thing that fries my mind in a small approach is that for a few years now, Samsung’s Android telephones have supplied DeX, a function that initiatives a Home windows-style desktop interface if you’re linked to a monitor or TV. It may’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 to churn out an article if I needed to cram all my writing and analysis onto a six-inch cellphone display screen.

What’s good is that Google lastly determined to bake this into Android 16 by way of Desktop Mode. In case your cellphone 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 cellphone, comparable to a Pixel 9 or 10, ought to be capable to run a number of apps without delay, together with video games.

There are a couple of catches right here. You could want a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter for some shows, and in a desktop surroundings, you may in all probability wish to route the whole lot via 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 cellphone offers the processing.

Observe that if you do not have a hub, it’s also possible to join mice and keyboards to your cellphone by way of Bluetooth. Simply do not anticipate your cellphone 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 can rely on an Android cellphone having a microSD card slot. Some comfort, nonetheless, is that you could join nearly any exterior SSD (solid-state drive) or card reader to an Android cellphone, providing a approach of transferring photographs, movies, music, and different recordsdata to and out of your cellphone’s inside storage. In actual fact, in the event you’ve bought an motion cam or knowledgeable digital camera, you might be able to switch content material immediately.

Do take note of the USB speeds of your cellphone, cable, and something you join, nonetheless. Whereas some telephones and equipment could also be able to knowledge transfers as much as 10Gbps or increased, you may extra possible be working 5Gbps. That is nonetheless quick, however could possibly 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 just about 14 minutes. You may in all probability need an improve in the event you’re utilizing your cellphone for skilled work, and even in the event 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 trendy {hardware}. I am you, Apple.

Recreation controllers

Who wants a console?

Credit score: Pocket-lint / Spine

Though you’ll be able to at all times pair a Bluetooth controller together with your cellphone, a USB-C primarily based “vice” controller just like the Spine One or Razer Kishi V3 is normally preferable for a couple of causes. The obvious one is comfort — you needn’t prop your cellphone up someplace, and you’ll at all times choose up your whole setup and go, a lot as in the event you have been taking part in on a Switch 2 or Steam Deck. You could want to make use of passthrough charging to keep away from draining your cellphone in a rush, however some extra superior fashions sport their very own batteries.

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

Some type of devoted controller is actually obligatory in the event 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 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 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 best way you prefer it. In the event you did not wish to use the bundled distant, you can mission absolutely anything onto a TV utilizing Google Forged. 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 cellphone, many TVs now have Google Forged built-in, and you may additionally be capable to use Samsung DeX or Android 16’s Desktop Mode, as I discussed in the beginning. When none of this stuff are an possibility, although, a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter ought to allow you to immediately mirror your cellphone’s display screen, which can be adequate in the event you’re making an attempt 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 cellphone 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 charge or increased. 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 cellphone and TV would be the limiting elements, particularly since few video games run a lot sooner than 60fps.