Hello Steemians, with this post i will talk about the fantastic uses of OTG connection on your smartphones in everyday life and i will show you what i personally did in order to benefit from this features.
DEFINITION
USB On-The-Go, often abbreviated to USB OTG or just OTG, is a specification that allows USB devices, such as tablets or smartphones, to act as a host, allowing other USB devices, such as USB flash drives, digital cameras, mice or keyboards, to be attached to them.
What Can You Do with USB OTG
WHAT IS REQUIRED: OTG CABLE Or OTG HUB + DEVICE TO BE CONNECTED
1) Connect Flash Drives, External Hard Drives and Cart Reader
Obviously, external storage is at the top of this list. Just plug it in and you’ll be ready to go. USB drives are the easiest to connect, while external hard drives may or may not work. Portable hard drives that draw power from the Android won’t always work, but external drives with their own power source work just fine. In order to connect and read cards you need a USB card reader to be plugged to the OTG CABLE
2) Control Android with Keyboards and Mouse
If you don’t like to navigate your Android device! If you use messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook a lot then you will love to exchange messages with Keyboard and Mouse. You can connect your USB mouse and Keyboard with your Android device using OTG cable (even wireless keyboard and mouse work !!).
3) Control Your DSLR Camera
Photographers will love this one. Your Android device can be wired up to your DSLR camera and turned into a giant livescreen, complete with the ability to capture, focus, control shutter speed, and much more. It’s one of the most creative uses of an Android tablet.
4) Use your Ethernet/LAN on smartphone
Wi-Fi is fantastic...if you've got good coverage. Still, the speed degrades as you move further from the Wi-Fi router. What if we could use our home broadband directly on a smartphone? You can make this happen just by using an OTG CABLE and a USB Ethernet connector. Plug them both and enjoy
5) Connect Video Game Controllers and Play
Controllers works fantastically with Android devices with USB OTG. It’s literally as simple as plug-and-play to start gaming with a controller. Here are some compatible controllers otherwise if you have Xbox 360 controller it will work fine.
6) Charge Other Smartphones
7) Connect Other USB accessories
This is the part that i like mostly since you can invent a lot of applications and find some great ways of solving some of everyday issues you could face.
For example:
- Connect a USB Fan
Ever worried going to a place without Air Conditioning (i.e. subway, camping, etc...) well this is a fantastic solution to refresh yourself.
- Connect a torch or selfie light
(I have built my own using cork bypassing the need of OTG cable/dongle...image below)
EXTRA FOR DIYer:
Since connecting an OTG cable to a smartphone means that the smartphone will be a source of electrical current and a source of data then i thought of developping and creating a series of handy gadgets that could be very useful.
- For example i am currently working on an electrical lighter in order to light up cigarettes (it produces no flame which makes it suitable for traveling) that is charged via OTG but could light directly through OTG (on the right a preview of the unfinished job, prototype)
- I am also working on doing an OTG audio amplifier that is directly connected via OTG cable and gets its power from the smartphone and gets also its audio input from the same OTG cable that is connected to the smartphone thus you will just need to push the play button and you will enjoy loud music. (preview not yet ready)
I GUESS ITS ALL FOR NOW....I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT COULD BE INTERESTING TO HAVE AS AN OTG GADGET.
DO NOT FORGET TO UPVOTE IF YOU FOUND IT USEFUL