Gadgets running Android OS have different advantages compared to other systems. All of them can be listed for a long time, but you should stop at one of them. In particular, such devices support the connection of different gadgets to them through a regular USB interface. But this requires an "intermediary", which is the OTG cable. What is it and how to use it? You will learn all this from this article.
OTG cable - what is it?
This cable is very short, at one end is a regular USB connector, and at the other end is a MicroUSB plug. As you already understood, the MicroUSB plug is inserted into the smartphone, and you can already connect anything to the USB connector .
Let's figure out what can be connected to the phone via the OTG cable. What is it, we have already figured out, now another question - what is it for?
We connect a flash drive
Connecting a flash drive is the easiest way to use an OTG cable. What does it give? At least from the phone you can listen to music that is recorded on a regular flash drive. You can also watch movies from a flash drive. If the phone does not have enough memory for the movie, then write it to a USB flash drive and watch on your gadget via an OTG cable.
It is worth noting that in most cases it is possible to connect a USB flash drive through this cable, but there may be problems. It all depends on the firmware that is installed on the phone. For example, on Nexus smartphones it is so difficult to configure an OTG cable that it involves installing third-party programs. You can also solve this problem by installing custom firmware, but you will have to tinker with it anyway.
Card reader
If the phone recognizes a USB flash drive, then it will most likely be able to recognize a card reader with an SD card inside. In most cases, the phone sees a memory card inserted in the card reader. Thus, on the smartphone, you can edit the contents of SD-cards using an OTG cable. That this may come in handy in some situation is perhaps obvious.
External hard drive
A disk with 500-700 GB memory can also be connected to the phone. On smartphones, so far there can be no such amount of memory, but with an external drive - completely. And for this you need only a short OTG cable. What will this give the user? As in the case of a flash drive, you can watch full movies on your phone, even in FullHD quality. The smartphone probably would not have enough memory for large tapes, but it would definitely be enough on the disk.
However, there are often errors when connecting a hard drive via USB OTG. That this happens is known to many users. Therefore, there is even a USB OTG Helper application, which itself finds the connected drive and mounts it. After connecting, it becomes available in the file manager. But even this program does not always save. For example, a Seagate hard drive with a memory capacity of 4 GB is not displayed at all even with this program. It is possible that the drive simply does not have enough power for the smartphone.
Mouse
Surprisingly, if you connect a mouse to the smartphone via this cable, the cursor will appear on the screen and it will respond to all mouse movements. Like on a computer, all programs and icons will be opened by double-clicking. Of course, there is no practical benefit from using a mouse on a smartphone, but it's just worth trying for the sake of experiment. Does anyone still doubt that USB OTG is cool?
Keyboard
Contrary to popular belief that tablets and phones were created to consume content, rather than create it, text can be printed on the tablet or smartphone using the keyboard. It connects via an OTG cable, and any Android device recognizes it perfectly. Now text is much more convenient to write, because the virtual keyboard is complete nonsense, which is suitable for social networks, but not for writing texts.
Gamepad
There are specialized solutions for playing on smartphones, but through the cable you can connect a full controller for games. Will it be possible to play with it? Quite! On Android devices, you can even connect a gamepad.
USB hub
By connecting a USB hub, you can create a workstation with a mouse and keyboard from the phone. In addition, you can connect speakers. However, there are no guarantees that all connected devices will work fully, although it’s worth a try.
Other
Most modern speakers plug into a computer’s USB port for power and into a 3.5 mm jack jack. At the same time, the speakers from the mobile USB port have enough power. Also, many cool headphones are connected not via the "mini-jack", but directly via USB. It's a shame when the cool "ears" can not be used in conjunction with a smartphone. But with an OTG cable, this becomes possible.
Connecting a printer is really a useful thing for which it’s worth having such a cable. It is very convenient to print documents stored on a smartphone on a printer. But even more convenient to print photos. Of course, it is better for the printer to be connected to a Wi-Fi network, but if it doesn’t have such functionality, then you can completely get by with the OTG cable. What is it, you now know.
Another option that is suitable for tablets without 3G / 4G modems. It's about connecting a modem that will provide access to a 3G / 4G network. Not all tablets have support for these standards, and if there are, then such models are more expensive. You can save a little money if you buy a modification of the gadget without the support of a third or fourth generation wireless network and use a USB modem that accidentally was lying around at your place. With the OTG cable, this has become possible, and the tablet recognizes it perfectly. But there is a nuance: you can connect a modem only with superuser rights and with the help of certain programs. In most cases, the PPP Widget 2 application helps.
You can continue to experiment for a long time, but the main thing is that you understand what this cable is.