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 — all the pieces from the most affordable doable finances 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 — in truth — you are not taking full benefit of your cellphone if you have not tried to plug in something extra subtle than a charger. Not that it is required — it is simply that your cellphone 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 chances.

Screens and lapdocks

Work from virtually wherever

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 characteristic that initiatives a Home windows-style desktop interface once you’re linked to a monitor or TV. It might probably’t go toe-to-toe with Home windows 11, but when you could get some writing, spreadsheets, or shows completed, 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 through Desktop Mode. In case your cellphone is suitable, the mode switches right into a tablet-style interface with help for a number of app home windows and a taskbar. Any current flagship cellphone, similar to a Pixel 9 or 10, ought to be capable 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 setting, you will in all probability need to route all the pieces by way of a USB-C hub for the sake of connecting a mouse, keyboard, and energy provide. A substitute for 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 cellphone gives the processing.

Word that if you do not have a hub, you can too join mice and keyboards to your cellphone through Bluetooth. Simply do not count on 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, nevertheless, is that you would be able to join nearly any exterior SSD (solid-state drive) or card reader to an Android cellphone, providing a manner of transferring images, movies, music, and different information to and out of your cellphone’s inner storage. In reality, should you’ve bought an motion cam or knowledgeable digicam, you could possibly switch content material straight.

Do take note of the USB speeds of your cellphone, cable, and something you join, nevertheless. Whereas some telephones and equipment could also be able to knowledge transfers as much as 10Gbps or greater, you will extra seemingly be working 5Gbps. That is nonetheless quick, however might 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 in all probability need an improve should you’re utilizing your cellphone for skilled work, and even should you’re simply offloading PEV group ride footage frequently. 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.

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 just a few causes. The obvious one is comfort — you need not prop your cellphone up someplace, and you’ll at all times choose up your total setup and go, a lot as should you had been enjoying on a Switch 2 or Steam Deck. You might 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 embrace 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 matches the controller’s most dimensions. You might even be capable to play Home windows video games utilizing your controller so long as you have bought a spare USB cable.

Some form of devoted controller is basically obligatory should 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 traditional sport emulator, lots of the titles you will be enjoying had been by no means designed with touchscreens in thoughts.

An workplace or lounge 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 growth, Google TV simply the best way you prefer it. If you happen to did not need 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 practically as simple to stuff in a bag or pocket.

If all you may have is your cellphone, many TVs now have Google Solid built-in, and you might also be capable 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 straight mirror your cellphone’s display screen, which can be adequate should you’re attempting to host a presentation at work, or watch a film at dwelling. 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 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 help 4K decision at a 60Hz refresh charge or greater. 30Hz is purposeful, however will not be capable 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 seemingly that your cellphone and TV would be the limiting elements, particularly since few video games run a lot sooner than 60fps.