USB Host / OTG support?

sprunka

Active member
Mar 7, 2011
33
0
0
about.me
I know that a few phones and tablets (running GB and HC respectively) have USB Host aka USB OTG.
I know a few other phones have the hardware that should support it, but "stuff" doesn't. (Carriers blocked it, manuf. didn't include the native drivers, etc)

Does anyone at all know if The Galaxy Nexus will/won't/might/should/etc have it enabled and available at launch?

(Gods, I hope it works out of the box...)
 

Blitzdroid

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2011
117
6
0
Visit site
Yes, it has been confirmed that Ice cream sandwich will have usb host support just like honeycomb.

So Galaxy Nexus will have it available at launch.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sprunka

jerrod6

Well-known member
May 20, 2011
475
21
0
Visit site
I don't know much.

I have 2 Sandisk flash drives one 4Gig the other 8Gig.

Can I plug these into the phone (or use a cable with adaptor) and if I do will the phone recognize this as storage, so I could move data between them? I can do it between the drives and my PC, will this work with the GN?
 

anon(512898)

Well-known member
Oct 5, 2011
266
51
0
Visit site
Why do we want USB OTG? What is it...what does it do?

It allows android to act as a usb host device, this means that you can plug other usb devices into it such as usb sticks, usb controllers, usb printers, ect. This makes our android devices function much more like a PC.
 

Blitzdroid

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2011
117
6
0
Visit site
Can I plug these into the phone (or use a cable with adaptor) and if I do will the phone recognize this as storage, so I could move data between them? I can do it between the drives and my PC, will this work with the GN?

Yes, you can plug in your usb drives and transfer data between them. This feature is currently available in honeycomb tablets and will work in ice cream sandwich/ Android 4.0.
 

Manny83

Member
Jan 5, 2010
15
0
0
Visit site
Does anyone know if in addition to supporting USB Host through the MHL-capable micro USB port will we be able to daisy chain a micro USB to HDMI adapter and charge the phone at the same time as using a USB OTG adapter? I mean, a self-powered USB hub to connect flash drives and input devices, HDMI output provided by one adapter, and charging of the Nexus all through the micro USB port on the phone all at the same time. The cabling would look like a mess but the functionality that can be gained is pretty cool.

I would be even better if Samsung offered a compatible dock that gets all those connections through the tiny dots on the side of the phone.
 

Yadao

Well-known member
Oct 14, 2010
116
25
0
Visit site
I don't think that's possible. MHL is completely separate from the USB OTG functions of the connector. It basically recognizes when an MHL cable is connected and switches to MHL mode.
 

Jdm4292

Well-known member
Jul 12, 2011
255
8
0
Visit site
Does anyone know if in addition to supporting USB Host through the MHL-capable micro USB port will we be able to daisy chain a micro USB to HDMI adapter and charge the phone at the same time as using a USB OTG adapter? I mean, a self-powered USB hub to connect flash drives and input devices, HDMI output provided by one adapter, and charging of the Nexus all through the micro USB port on the phone all at the same time. The cabling would look like a mess but the functionality that can be gained is pretty cool.

I would be even better if Samsung offered a compatible dock that gets all those connections through the tiny dots on the side of the phone.

Maybe you can work that out with some hot wires and those copper contacts on the side B-)

Sent from my ADR6400L
 

Manny83

Member
Jan 5, 2010
15
0
0
Visit site
I don't think that's possible. MHL is completely separate from the USB OTG functions of the connector. It basically recognizes when an MHL cable is connected and switches to MHL mode.

Good to know. The guy in this video around 15:17 mentions what you just said, but about a Galaxy Note.

Samsung Galaxy Note: MHL, RDP + bluetooth keyboard & mouse, N64oid + BT controller, USB OTG - YouTube

I guess having a bluetooth controller and HDMI out while charging is enough to make it a nice console-like experience. Can even be paired with something like this for big screen netflix watching without a computer.

Initially I thought I could just connect an external USB harddrive full of movies and play them back on the big screen using HDMI at the same time but that will have to be done connecting the hard drive through a NAS and streaming over wifi. But that's one of the few unlikely situations where such functionality would be useful. Not a huge deal.

To think of it Motorola managed to include USB ports and HDMI on their dock because the ports are not MHL but separate ports. That's what got me thinking of this setup but I realized that.
 

Manny83

Member
Jan 5, 2010
15
0
0
Visit site
I was just thinking (probably waaaay too much) about the possibilities that USB OTG brings to phones that have limited internal storage.

Say the Nexus with no MicroSD slot. You buy this "custom case" that has a tiny MicroUSB passthrough cable of the ribbon/flat type with a built in 64GB flash drive strapped to the back of the phone. The cable would somehow still let you use your micro USB port for charging and other uses as long as the chipset doesn't shutoff any USB functionality due to a flash drive being plugged in all the time. I know it sounds crazy but they also have cases for the iphone that have a slideout keyboard and they have battery-type cases so it's not too far fetched. Patent Pending! LOL
 

CynicX

Well-known member
Oct 8, 2011
704
50
0
Visit site
Just to be clear here it will support USB hosting but not USB mass storage just like Honeycomb. Rooting is a solution for Honeycomb with mass storage and I'm sure it will be with ICS.

Game controllers, mouse, keyboard, etc etc all work great with hc.
 

Manny83

Member
Jan 5, 2010
15
0
0
Visit site
Just to be clear here it will support USB hosting but not USB mass storage just like Honeycomb. Rooting is a solution for Honeycomb with mass storage and I'm sure it will be with ICS.

Game controllers, mouse, keyboard, etc etc all work great with hc.

I havent used honeycomb. That's good to know. Thanks!
 

bigcatman

Well-known member
Nov 14, 2011
272
30
0
Visit site
I just got my USB OTG cable. It is ing awesome by the way. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out a way that I can charge the phone while using a USB device (USB Controller to be specific). I'm absolutely scratching my brain trying to figure out how to do this. Does anyone have any ideas?

I thought about using a Y connector (one USB male and two USB females on the end), connecting the controller into one female and...what about the other one? How would I supply a charge to it?
 

BSG75

Custom User Title
May 11, 2010
785
98
0
Visit site
It would be nice if you could plug your ICS device into a car USB and get music controls like the iPhone has. To me that seems like one of the biggest commercial uses for this technology.
 

Members online

Trending Posts

Forum statistics

Threads
942,410
Messages
6,913,956
Members
3,158,400
Latest member
m1000