There are a number of clever accessories constantly being released to enhance our experience with smartphones, whether it’s some sort of case to protect it or a dock to play our music on. We now have something that may appeal to the gamers out there that will basically let you use a PS3 controller on Android devices via a USB OTG adapter.
Owners of the iPad have the Camera Connection Kit that allows the connection of a variety of different USB devices, but the guys over at Cnet were wondering if there was something similar for Android. The solution is neither sold nor advertised by any of the big companies that sell Android smartphones, but there is a cheap cable that is called a USB On-The-Go adapter.
The device can be found via this Amazon link, and is basically a female USB port that is plugged into the microUSB port of a smartphone or tablet PC, which then allows you to connect hardware that use a standard USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection. This turns your Android device into a USB host that will power and communicate with the connected device.
So far it has been difficult to work out what Android devices are compatible with the accessory, but the Samsung range of smartphones and tablets are the most USB friendly. The USB host mode is technically available in all hardware that runs Android 3.1 and later, but it needs the manufacturers to enable the feature, and some companies may limit the types of devices that are supported.
The following devices have been found to support the accessory and include the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S2, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, Sony Tablet S, Droid RAZR, Acer Iconia Tab A200, Acer Iconia Tab A500, Toshiba Excite 10, and the Archos G9.
So from this list it is clear that many Android devices lack support for the USB host mode, but hopefully companies will change this with future software updates. Do you like the look of the USB On-The-Go adapter?