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OTG - I dont get it.

magohn

Android Enthusiast
Dec 15, 2010
519
42
Hi all,

Recent N7 owner here. I love the device but admit it really needs an SD card feature. I have 16gb which is more than enough for everyday use but if I wanted to load ALL my music and a few movies, I could see where the space would soon be eaten up. I notice a lot of you are using the OTG cable and a card thumb-drive combo. Doesn't this defeat the object of the device though? Im not sure I want to carry a cable and thumb-drive around on the off-chance that I want to listen to certain albums.

Im not criticizing, just wondering why OTG is so popular As a CompSci professor once told me "Yes you can, but why would you"? Is that the attraction, the fact that its possible but at the end of the day, not very practical?

Thanks!
 
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yes you can, but why would you? easy... and you've already answered that question - in case you want to listen, view, do, something thru your N7 that you don't want always loaded to the device. The only thing I use my OTG cable for is watching the occasional anime that I put on a thumb drive. If I know I'm going somewhere that I won't have a wifi connection, but don't want to just sit there playing games, I'll grab my OTG and thumb drive.

keep in mind that you're talking a VERY small footprint for the cable and drive. I have a sling backpack that I use when I need to carry a few things, but don't want to bring a full backpack. I just put them into one of the side pockets with the charger.
 
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Thanks guys, I get that it adds endless (almost) storage but its the whole 'connect a cable, connect a drive' scenario that seems troublesome as youd have to carry those items with you at all times.

Youd think that some clever company would come up with a small drive with built in OTG that you could leave plugged into the N7 (no cable). Kind of like those micro BT dongles you can get for laptops.

PS the amazon links don't work :(

23s91tj.jpg
 
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Thanks guys, I get that it adds endless (almost) storage but its the whole 'connect a cable, connect a drive' scenario that seems troublesome as youd have to carry those items with you at all times.

Youd think that some clever company would come up with a small drive with built in OTG that you could leave plugged into the N7 (no cable). Kind of like those micro BT dongles you can get for laptops.

PS the amazon links don't work :(

23s91tj.jpg

Yeah they make the flash drives in that size, I have one, but still need the cable. :p what I did is keep everything on the flash drive, then move over what I want, then when out of space, delete the old stuff and move what I want over again.
 
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I mostly use it like others for downloaded TV stuff - I can watch it on the train or shove the same stick in a laptop/raspberry pi at my other halfs place so we can watch it on the TV. It's also handy for Mame as I just leave all the images on stick to browse though. As a major part of my job is flipping though hundreds of images it's also convenient to take them off microscope on a stick and view them on the tablet whilst sat comfortably in the coffee bar.
 
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Yeah they make the flash drives in that size, I have one, but still need the cable. :p what I did is keep everything on the flash drive, then move over what I want, then when out of space, delete the old stuff and move what I want over again.

Thanks.

Seems cable is problematic (you have to carry a cable around) and the OTG/USB connectors are problematic (because they stick out so far its just asking for a stress issue on the mini-usb port if left attached permanently).

As I say, ideally, a combo mini-usb/otg/drive with a low form factor would be awesome. Something like the BT dongle pictured above that is rounded (so it doesn't catch on things) low form factor, and all-in-one.

I may just 'wait' until something like that is released. :)

Thanks all.
 
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I use it for watching TV programs I've recorded or ripped from DVD collections. Very handy for a session on the treadmill. I use a simple plug (no cable) and the world's smallest micro sd card reader:

Amazon.com: eForCity USB 2.0 A to Micro B Female / Male Adaptor: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: elago Mobile Nano II USB 2.0 microSDHC Flash Memory Card Reader (Black): Electronics

thanks i order the eForCity USB 2.0 A to Micro B Female / Male Adaptor for $1.52 from louisiana :D so ill have it in a few days.
 
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i dont carry it all over the place...
just when i am out on long trips..

normally the 16gb can do for me.. have a few movies on it.. with some songs too.
and swap them out as needed when home.

but on trips... i have movies and other music on the thumb drive. it and the cable are stored in my bag. i can change out the files from Thumbdrive to N7, as needed; then unplug it.

another solution would be to use an cloud storage service like: dropbox.
 
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I use my N7 with my camera. I take photos on the field and then I preview it on my N7. Sometimes I'll do simple editing of the photo and upload it somewhere. I can't preview it on my camera because the screen on the camera is way too small. Everything looks sharp and perfect but in fact when I look at it on my N7 I can tell what I need to reshoot.

If my camera has BT or wifi then maybe I wouldn't need it. But right now I need that OTG.
 
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I use my N7 with my camera. I take photos on the field and then I preview it on my N7. Sometimes I'll do simple editing of the photo and upload it somewhere. I can't preview it on my camera because the screen on the camera is way too small. Everything looks sharp and perfect but in fact when I look at it on my N7 I can tell what I need to reshoot.

If my camera has BT or wifi then maybe I wouldn't need it. But right now I need that OTG.
If your camera supports an Eye-Fi card then you can set it up using the Eye-Fi app so that as soon as you snap a picture, it is transferred to the N7. I have one and it works great.
 
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The reason I'm happy with OTG is that I don't need the extra storage most of the time. Most of the time, I'm not watching movies - I'm going about daily life, with a device I can do some quick reading, or play a quick game, or browse the web on.

The times I do want to watch movies, like a trip where I'll be on a plane or in a car, it's easy to grab the OTG cable and the thumb drive that is always in it.
 
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I can't really see what point the OP is trying to make as surely if you can find room to carry a 7 inch tablet around you can also manage to find room for a flash drive & cable? Main worry for me is losing them as they are so small!

Having said that I can't understand why micro SD card slots have gone out of favour (Apple to blame?) as on my SGS2 I can happily use a 32GD memory card and never worry about misplacing it.
 
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I can't really see what point the OP is trying to make as surely if you can find room to carry a 7 inch tablet around you can also manage to find room for a flash drive & cable? Main worry for me is losing them as they are so small!

Having said that I can't understand why micro SD card slots have gone out of favour (Apple to blame?) as on my SGS2 I can happily use a 32GD memory card and never worry about misplacing it.

The point I am trying to make is 'why bother with OTG as it stands today'? If you need to remember to bring along a cable and card reader to access files, it seems problematic (yes, you could lose your 32gb card) and 'clunky'.
What I am hoping to discover is a small thumb-drive with OTG built-in that could happily live attached to the N7.
 
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