Future Fosstek: OTG Cable for Nexus 7 Makes Moving Files Easy

As mentioned in a previous post, there is a USB cable you can purchase for your Nexus 7 that will allow you to read from USB Flash Drives (and write to them if you are rooted), use game controllers, etc. But keep in mind that this cable is not a standard USB cable. It is called an "On-The-Go Cable" or "OTG Cable" for short. They are fairly cheap to buy, and in my opinion are well worth the investment for any Nexus 7 owner. Does it work? Do you have to be rooted to use it? Why even worry about it? The answers (respectively): Yes, No, and It's Awesome. See below.

Does it work?

In short, yes the OTG cable works marvelously. Seeing as how it is just a cable, there aren't many ways it wouldn't work. It fits the small connection on the bottom of the Nexus 7 where you plug it up to charge. The opposite end of the OTG Cable, is a female USB connector. This allows you to hook up pretty much any USB Flash Drive or game controller to it. This makes it possible to watch movies or play music or even just access files directly from a USB Flash drive without the need of transferring these files directly to the Nexus 7 using either a PC or services like Box.

If you are using your Nexus 7 as it is straight out of the box (i.e.: not rooted) then you will need an app from the Google Play store to be able to read the USB Flash Drives. And without Root access, that's about all you can do. There have been some reports of certain apps allowing play with a PS3 gamepad without root, but not every app supports it. So if you aren't rooted and just want to be able to access other files using flash drives:

-Visit the Google Play Store and download the Nexus Media Importer by Homesoft ($2.99 USD)
-Hook up the OTG Cable and a flash drive.
-The Nexus Media Importer app should launch automatically.
-Select your files and have fun!
*Just note that without root access you can only read from USB Flash drives, you can't write back to them.

Do you have to be rooted to use it?

No you don't. As mentioned above, you can use it without root access. However, you're somewhat limited to what you can do with the OTG Cable unless you do have root access. With root access you can read and write to and from USB Flash Drives. You can also hook up a PS3, Xbox 360, or even Wiimote to your device for gaming. Using these devices does typically require an extra app to make it easier to setup (for PS3 controllers use Sixaxis).

And for reading/writing files I use the Stickmount (FREE) app and ES File Explorer (FREE) app to access and transfer files as needed.

Why Even Worry About It?

So why even worry about it. In short, if you have no plans to root your device or you are completely happy with your Nexus 7 as it is out of the box, you may not even care about using an OTG Cable. But if you're like me and you like to read books/comic books digitally, or watch movies and videos offline, or even play games with a gamepad; then the OTG Cable is a great workaround. The Nexus 7 is a slick device, no doubt about it. But one of the complaints have been the lack of an SD Card slot (or even a full sized USB Host port). Pretty much, whether you bought the 16 or 32GB capacity versions, that's all the space you get. With an OTG Cable you not only get the internal storage of your device, along with as many USB Flash Drives you could possibly want. This really opens up your devices storage options especially if you get tired of using your PC to transfer files to and from your device.