4 issues you possibly can 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 machine can look radically completely 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 — the whole lot from the most affordable 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 a number of flexibility in what customers can join, and — the truth is — 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 may understand, generally 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 anyplace

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 function that initiatives a Home windows-style desktop interface whenever you’re related 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 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 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 help for a number of app home windows and a taskbar. Any latest flagship cellphone, comparable 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 might want a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter for some shows, and in a desktop surroundings, you will in all probability need to route the whole lot by means of 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 cellphone offers the processing.

Word that if you do not have a hub, you can even 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 would not have a way of charging concurrently.

Exterior SSDs and card readers

Prepared to dump (and onload)

Gone are the times when you possibly can depend on an Android cellphone 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 cellphone, providing a method of transferring pictures, movies, music, and different information to and out of your cellphone’s inside storage. In reality, when you’ve acquired an motion cam or an expert digital camera, you could possibly switch content material instantly.

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 information transfers as much as 10Gbps or increased, you will extra possible 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 might take 40 seconds at 10Gbps will stretch out to almost 14 minutes. You may in all probability need an improve when you’re utilizing your cellphone for skilled work, and even when you’re simply offloading PEV group ride footage regularly. USB 2.0 dates again to the yr 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 along with your cellphone, a USB-C primarily based “vice” controller just like the Spine One or Razer Kishi V3 is normally preferable for a number of causes. The obvious one is comfort — you need not prop your cellphone up someplace, and you may at all times choose up your total setup and go, a lot as when you 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 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 gadgets is clamp within the new one, so long as it matches 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 acquired a spare USB cable.

Some form of devoted controller is basically obligatory when you 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 traditional sport emulator, lots 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 mandatory

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 growth, Google TV simply the best way you prefer it. If you happen to did not need to use the bundled distant, you possibly can challenge 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 could have is your cellphone, 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 initially. When none of this stuff are an possibility, although, a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter ought to allow you to instantly mirror your cellphone’s display screen, which can be ok when you’re attempting to host a presentation at work, or watch a film at house. 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 cellphone and adapter, and the enter specs of the HDMI port you are plugging into. For a easy expertise, all three of those ought to help 4K decision at a 60Hz refresh charge or increased. 30Hz is useful, 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 possible that your cellphone and TV would be the limiting elements, particularly since few video games run a lot quicker than 60fps.