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 machine can look radically totally 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 — every part from the most affordable doable 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 a variety 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 refined than a charger. Not that it is required — it is simply that your telephone can deal with much more than you may understand, typically changing a laptop computer in a pinch. I am going to really begin with that one as a style of the chances.

Screens and lapdocks

Work from nearly 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 once you’re related to a monitor or TV. It might’t go toe-to-toe with Home windows 11, but when you must 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, resembling a Pixel 9 or 10, ought to have the ability to run a number of apps without delay, together with video games.

There are just a few catches right here. Chances are you’ll want a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter for some shows, and in a desktop atmosphere, you may in all probability wish to route every part via a USB-C hub for the sake of connecting a mouse, keyboard, and energy provide. An alternative choice to it is 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.

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 may depend on an Android telephone having a microSD card slot. Some comfort, nonetheless, is that you would be able to 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, for those who’ve received an motion cam or an expert digicam, 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 knowledge transfers as much as 10Gbps or larger, you may extra doubtless 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 will in all probability 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 must be together with it on trendy {hardware}. I am you, Apple.

Recreation 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 just a few causes. The obvious one is comfort — you need not prop your telephone up someplace, and you may at all times choose up your whole setup and go, a lot as for those who have been taking part in on a Switch 2 or Steam Deck. Chances are 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 embody the bottom doable enter latency, and my favourite watchword for this text, flexibility. All you must do to modify between units is clamp within the new one, so long as it matches the controller’s most dimensions. Chances are you’ll even have the ability to play Home windows video games utilizing your controller so long as you’ve got received a spare USB cable.

Some type of devoted controller is actually necessary for those who care about gaming. Whilst 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 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 mandatory

Google discontinued all of its Chromecast dongles in August 2024, which is a disgrace — they have been a extremely transportable means 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. When you did not wish to use the bundled distant, you may 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 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 may additionally 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, this may 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 clean expertise, all three of those ought to help 4K decision at a 60Hz refresh charge or larger. 30Hz is purposeful, 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 stage, it is extra doubtless that your telephone and TV would be the limiting components, particularly since few video games run a lot quicker than 60fps.