On my Lumia 720 how do I support usb to otg cable?

[Rohan Pant]

lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

lumia 72 how to support usb to otg cable

 

[xandros9]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

short answer: Not possible currently.

 

[anon(7929613)]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

Is it possible now? W10M supports OTG!

 

[xandros9]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

I doubt it thus far. But my knowledge may be out of date.

 

[anon(7929613)]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

If you are running W10M technical preview on your smartphone, why don't you test it and let us know? I think that it should work because these lumias were made by Nokia and many handsets of Nokia running Symbian OS already supported OTG and also because Nokia was one of the first manufacturers to support OTG on it's handsets.

 

[rhapdog]

Microsoft has not made this feature available at this time on current Windows 10 Mobile phones, but do advertise that the feature will be supported on future "made for Windows 10 Mobile" phones such as the Lumia 950 utilizing an adapter or the Dock.

It seems that Microsoft is requiring the USB-C connector on new Lumias to support the feature. I don't know the details as to why at this point.

It is possible that pre-existing hardware is not supported because the necessary pins are not connected in the hardware. Enabling this yourself by soldering the required pins would most likely be a disaster.

 

[anon(7929613)]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

I think that USB ports come in a unibody package. I have seen it in a disassembly video of Lumia 720. So its same for all the devices. The only thing required are the DRIVERS for OTG. These drivers are different from the ones on PC and the OEM has to provide the drivers. If Microsoft provides drivers for old Lumias, OTG should work on them. Having said that, I may be wrong.

 

[rhapdog]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

I think that USB ports come in a unibody package. I have seen it in a disassembly video of Lumia 720. So its same for all the devices. The only thing required are the DRIVERS for OTG. These drivers are different from the ones on PC and the OEM has to provide the drivers. If Microsoft provides drivers for old Lumias, OTG should work on them. Having said that, I may be wrong.

There has been a lot of discussion about this in other threads on the forum. The bottom line is this. In addition to the SoC, which supports OTG, there is other extra hardware that must also be included in order to take advantage of OTG, even with driver. It's not as simple as whether the USB port has all the connections made.

I have read technical documents that state that all is required is the SoC. I have read technical documents that claim you have to have an extra processing unit outside the SoC to make it work. I don't have the exact answer, because the research I have done on the subject is ambiguous at best.

My suggestion is to "wait and see" what happens from Microsoft on this issue. USB-OTG for my Lumia 635 and Lumia 640 would extend the life of those phones for several more years as far as I am concerned. Especially if it enabled USB mouse and keyboard while I did a screen mirror to a MiraCast monitor. I'd be quite happy. It won't be Continuum, but I'd still be happy for now, especially since I can change the display scaling on my 640 to phablet mode fairly quickly.

 

[anon(7929613)]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

I have read technical documents that claim you have to have an extra processing unit outside the SoC to make it work.

Please provide me the link to read this technical document. I have been reading numerous papers about USB and OTG in general, but to be frank, they are difficult to find. So if you can provide me with anything, I would appreciate that.

 

[rhapdog]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

Please provide me the link to read this technical document. I have been reading numerous papers about USB and OTG in general, but to be frank, they are difficult to find. So if you can provide me with anything, I would appreciate that.

It has been quite some time since I read these documents. It took me weeks of searching to find them, and I really don't feel like doing that type of in-depth research right now. Life is rather busy.

HOWEVER, I have found THIS LINK that will give you even BETTER information. It is direct from Microsoft, and explains the situation with whether or not it will support older hardware. It is an article written by Microsoft's Andrea Keating.

From that article:

In Windows 10, Microsoft is introducing support for USB Dual Role. USB Dual Role refers to the ability of a system to behave as a USB Device or a USB Host. This is a really exciting feature as it adds the ability to use your USB devices with your Mobile phone for the first time ever in Windows!

Please note, this feature will only be available on new Windows 10 devices that support USB Dual Role. This is because of the hardware changes required for the USB port to support device enumeration. While there are devices in the market today that have USB Dual Role capable controllers, the platforms were not designed to support USB Dual Role. New hardware may advertise that they are Dual Role capable.

Perhaps that will settle the questions surrounding the issue once-and-for-all. Personally, I don't like the answer. I wanted my 640 to be able to handle it. Now I learn it won't. It is disappointing to say the least for me, but at least I don't have to keep wondering.

 

[anon(7929613)]

Re: lumia 720 how to support usb to otg cable

Dual role is basically OTG. Windows is implementing it for the first time through windows 10. Android already has OTG.
So may be it will require some new hardware.
Nevertheless, I have gone all wireless now. It would be better if Microsoft integrate WiFi file sharing right into the OS. That would be just awesome!