OTG is an abbreviation for USB On-The-Go. This is an advanced specification in the world of computers that was first used and implemented in 2001. All devices such as tablets and Smartphone are enabled to serve as a host so that other USB devices such as a digital camera, mouse or keyboard can be connected to them. Today, OTG is very popular among mobile users. It helps people use their mobile phones as a portable computer. It is as a result of an increasing need for making portable devices to communicate with each other. To use this feature there should be an OTG Host support on your device only then you can connect an OTG cable to your mobile phone and connect your phone with a USB device like a mouse, keyboard and flash drive.
In the simplest words, we can say, USB OTG allows USB OTG products to communicate with each other without using a PC. For example, a digital camera can be connected to a PDA and a mobile phone can be connected to a printer or a scanner; all these devices need to be USB OTG-compatible. However, OTG has got many functionalities that it will help you within your Smartphone and other gadgets connectivity. Today in this article again, we shall be looking at many of the things that the OTG will help you with, but we shall focus mostly on those that are known by very few people. At the end of this article, you will have advanced your tech skills in connection with your Smartphone.
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Using an external Mic to record audios on your phone
However much sufficient your inbuilt Mic may be, a real Mic is really essential in case of high-quality recording. There are many microphone models which have a USB cord, and with an OTG cable coupled with a dedicated app such as USB Audio Recorder PRO, you can easily make your external Mic work with your Android device.
Making use of a Modem on your phone
There are times when you need internet yet your Wi-Fi-only device cannot do you any service in places where there is no WIFI. Yes, that device may seem useless before you discover this trick of browsing the Internet without a Wi-Fi connection. With a USB OTG cable, there’s a decent chance that your modem may just work with your device directly once you have connected it.
Make use of the keyboard on your phone
Typing using the on-screen keyboard of your phone, call it a touch pad is really tedious. It’s very hard to achieve the same level of speed and accuracy that people have been accustomed to on their computers. But, with an OTG cable, you can easily connect a keyboard to your device and configure it using Android’s built-in settings for external controllers. Connecting a USB mouse is also possible which could be handy if you have calibration issues with your device.
Connecting a USB Flash Drive and Hard Drive to your phone
With the OTG cable, you can as well connect a USB flash drive to your Android phone to transfer files between the phone and your flash or hard drive directly. All you need to do is plug the flash drive into the secondary port of the cable, and use any of the many file manager apps for Android to access your files and folders.
Charge one device with another
Did you know that you can charge one device with another device? Yes that is possible with an OTG cable; in fact one of the most common uses of a USB OTG cable is for charging one device with another one. The process is very simple; all you need to do is plug the OTG cable into the host device and then use a regular USB cord to connect the other device with the OTG cable. For this to work, however, the host device needs to have a higher battery capacity compared to the secondary device
Use a game controller
Playing games with a touch screen is, in most cases, not as intuitive as using a dedicated gamepad, so it is often necessary to find a way around this especially when playing racing, shooter or sports games. Many Android games support the use of an external gamepad, and one such way to take advantage of this is to connect an external game controller to your device using an OTG cable. Some devices support game controllers out of the box, but others may require your phone to be rooted.
Print directly From a Printer using your mobile phone
Just like keyboards and mouse, printers as well come with a standard plug-and-play USB that work well with Android devices. These enable you start printing without requiring a wireless connection or having to transfer anything to a PC first. Android hasn’t supported USB Mass Storage mode for some time. Thus, if you want to print photos and documents, you’ll need to use the PTP or MTP modes for your USB connection in this case.
Connecting Android Smartphone to a Camera
Another thing many people do not know is that USB OTG can as well help you to connect a phone to your camera and either transfer or access the images and videos stored on it. Re you a traveling photographer who is always short of storage? This must be what you exactly need before you travel again.
Connecting LAN Cable and accessing Internet on your Android Smartphone
Did you know that you could connect an Ethernet cable directly without having to create a hotspot internet on your laptop for your mobile phone? Many people probably don’t know that the USB OTG can be used to connect your device to LAN cable. This will be helpful when you have a broadband connection but don’t have Wi-Fi router. All you have to do is just buy a LAN to USB controller and connect it as shown above and you will be able to use your broadband internet in your mobile directly.
Connecting USB Mouse to your Android Smartphone
We already talked about the keyboard and the printer. The mouse as well works in the same way. However, the mouse connection could be handy if you have calibration issues with your device. This is not practical for daily use but it is really useful for data recovery, especially when your touch screen is damaged.