Ever wondered what is the USB-like device in your table tagged USB OTG? Do you know its actual use? In this article, you are going to grab the answers for all your doubts and speculations. It’s a common peripheral which is coming with a large percentage of smartphones and there is no chance for not having this on your table if you own a smartphone, especially an android device. So, let’s look what it is actually and what are its uses.
What is USB OTG?
You may be familiar with normal connector cables which connect your smartphones to the PC or Mac. But, the USB OTG (USB On The Go) is a standard that enables the direct connectivity between the devices. It will make your smartphone act like a USB host that can recognize additional hardware such as Flash Storage, Keyboards, Mouse or anything that supported by your device.
If your device is compatible with the USB OTG Cable, you will see a logo like the featured image of this post on your smartphones covering or somewhere else. Most probably all smartphones which released in the past one or two years are coming with the USB OTG connectivity support. If you own a newer device, you don’t have to worry about it. But, if you own an older model, you should check the packaging or the website of the manufacturer for more details regarding the USB OTG support.
What can you do with USB OTG?
Now, you got a basic idea on what a USB OTG connector is. So, we can look into the list of various things that you can do with the USB OTG cable.
Connect a mouse
If you have a smartphone with a broken touch screen or need a little more ease in using it, you can connect the computer mouse to the smartphone using an OTG cable. You don’t need to configure the smartphone (If you have a comparatively newer model) to recognize mouse movements. When you successfully connected the mouse using the OTG connector, a cursor will appear on the screen and you can start using it.
Connect a keyboard
If you are speed writer on your keyboard and not that much speedy on the little smartphone, you can always connect an external keyboard to the device using the OTG connection. Same like the mouse, there are no additional configurations needed for recognizing the strokes. One thing to notice is that keyboards with extra functions like ‘Fn’ keys may not output the results for those specific functions because the smartphones won’t recognize the task.
Connect a MIDI keyboard
If you are a music enthusiast, connecting a MIDI keyboard is possible using the OTG connector. Various apps are available for such functions which all will make your smartphone a serious music workstation for producing high quality music contents.
Connect additional storage
The storage in your smartphones will be always limited to a 64GB or a 128GB at max. But, what if you have an unused Flash storage with a lot of your music or video files? Using the OTG cable, it is possible to connect the USB devices to your smartphone to access the contents. So, you don’t have to copy all those files to your smartphones never again.
Connect a game controller
If all above things are possible using a single cable, why don’t you connect your Xbox controller to your smartphones? Just connect the controller using the OTG connector and Launch the game. No configurations needed and the game will work fine with the connector.
Wrapping Up
Now, you’ve got an idea of the USB OTG Cable which is resting on your tables. Just connect it with your smartphone and start searching for the Mouse and the Game controller. Enjoy the wider world on your lovely Android or iOS smartphones with the OTG. You can also read our article on Best OTG Cable Tricks for a little more applications of the connector.