MHL and USB-OTG on the Nexus 7 - Mounting USB Storage Not Supported
by Brian Klug on June 29, 2012 2:13 PM ESTSince posting the Nexus 7 mini review, I've gotten a lot of emails asking about whether USB-OTG for storage was currently supported or would be supported in the shipping software load. I've done some asking around and believe I have the final word now.
USB-OTG is indeed supported on the Nexus 7, however as anyone has used USB-OTG knows, whether peripherals or devices work is a function of the host OS and drivers. On the Nexus 7, using a mouse and keyboard is supported, and I saw Google using an Ethernet to microUSB adapter with the Nexus 7 (which I borrowed for my Galaxy Nexus) as well. Unfortunately mounting USB storage natively is not supported on the Nexus 7. Hopefully rooted users will be able to use StickMount with the Nexus 7 and make this work. In addition, MHL is not supported on the Nexus 7, which isn't very surprising since adding MHL requires another package and would increase BOM cost.
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The Saint - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
Didn't past Nexus devices running stock Android support external storage via USB on the go?Does this mean that stock Android from Jellybean on no longer supports external USB storage?
What reasonable explanation could account for why the Nexus 7 fails to support USB storage?
Ninhalem - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
Why would you need USB storage if everything is in the cloud?Think about it from a main consumer point of view instead of through the eyes of people who read this site.
JohnnyL1953 - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
What reasonable explanation could account for why the Nexus 7 does not have a micro SD slot?The main consumer cares diddly squat about the cloud and more about making sure they have enough content loaded up to survive being off the net for a number of hours and not having to worry about connecting via WiFi from god knows where when on a trip.
semiconshawn - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
Wrong. I love the cloud. Its how I keep an enormous music and video collection on a 16gb device. What am going to do carry around a portable hard drive? Dumb. Get Verizon get service everywhere. Only time I want usb or sd is to load pics off the cam card. I guess if you fly a ton you might need to preload something but where can you not get internet in the U.S.?Zoomer - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
Plenty of places unless you are willing to suffer ISDN speeds and horrible latencies, and plenty more places where you have no option besides paying truckloads of money for 2 way satellite. (Rural)Oh, and plenty of urban places where there is NO internet, period. Unless said truckloads are sent to some well placed transit officer who could use said donation to upgrade infrastructure.
And Google is a global company.
Cloud is all good and fine, but reliability wise, it adds an uncertainty to things: The cloud ate my homework/presentation.
festrada007 - Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - link
Exactly, I live in a very forested and rural part of Northern California. I get dial up speeds from Satalite and U.S. Postal speeds on conectivity due to latency. When it snows I have no internet and when we have heavy rain it get un-bearable. Then you have to think about going on a Cruse, WTF I would rather have my Internet at home in a heavy down pour than the Internet speed they have on a Cruise Ship. I need more than 16GB. I love my Nexus 7, (I'm already married so I cant marry my device) it is better than any other device I have owned Apple or Android. Palm Web OS still is the best OS. But Jelly Bean is getting close.chrnochime - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
So what if you love the cloud. That's your opinion. Plenty of ppl want to not have to rely on the cloud and when flying can watch shows or what not preloaded using microSD. Where can you NOT get internet? When I don't want to pay for internet services at airports. And "But internet through tethering always works blah blah blah" well again that's your opinion.Ananke - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
My hotel in Mexico was charging $12 per 5 minutes Internet; or $29 per day. The speed was loading yahoo.mail in more than a minute. Virgin was asking for $5 for in flight WiFi. Everybody in Las Vegas is asking at least $15 per day internet, etc thousands of examples...besides the speed always has been like 14.4kb modem connection..so, that cloud thingy is total BS. If this device is useless on the go, i.e. is not portable, I can browse "the cloud" at home with the very same success using laptop/desktop or iPad 16GB sold for $300 today on a deal.Spuke - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
Sorry but regular people don't care about storage in any form. Regular people aren't geeks. Most don't know the difference between memory and hard drive space. Most of the regular folks see tech in a general sense, not in specifics like us geeks. No one cares or even knows that you can hook up an external drive to their tablets. Hell, most don't know that's a USB port on their tablets. They just assume it's just a battery charging port (even though there's a USB plug on the other end). As long as their stuff is available, that's all they care about.Death666Angel - Saturday, June 30, 2012 - link
Your argument doesn't make sense since regular people would not be confused by those (microSD, USB storage) inclusions. If they want to use the cloud, adding the above will not make their life more difficult.And I can't imagine that the cost and man-hours spent to implement the above is that great, since every android device except the Nexus' use them. So they lose the "geeks" who don't want to pay shit-loads for mobile data and they gain maybe 50 cent BOM. Awesome.