[missing_K-W]

What's the state of USB OTG and hosting on the Tablet OS platform?

Does anyone have any insight? Or the means to contribute to guiding us in some form or fashion to the prospects of this?

I was viewing the QNX.com web site and noticed they had many developer and engineer positions available. Most of the job descriptions led me to believe they were related to the BB QNX platform.

One of the positions were for a developer to work on drivers. Not only this. I have gathered through my research that drivers are an area QNX was ramping up on. One could only assume that this would be for supporting such things as USB OTG, host as well as anything we could use our imagination on!

What's most important is that having these functions are a priority of sorts in my opinion. We need to put some pressure on RIM to get the wheels in motion on certain support functions!

We aren't aware of everything RIM is currently working on for the Tablet OS platform. However regardless of whether certain things are under way or not (development wise). We are unaware. However we should all collectively find a unified vessel to give our demands to RIM. Random complaints in the forum are ok. I'm sure they get attention. I believe we would get the best results aligning our requests or demands in some instances to have an abundant flow heading back to the ears at RIM. I'm going to personally start directing more feedback and emailing requests. Many here already do and I'm thankful for that. I'm going to do my part more and more. I hope others start to as well

Who would be thrilled to have USB OTG and host etc? There have been threads on this. But there are more PB owners now. So the demographics of what users want change rapidly!

[xsacha]

I would be incredibly thrilled to get USB OTG.
I would probably end up buying a rapid charger/magnetic charger so that I have the free USB port.

[FF22]

Interesting that they are looking for driver support. Maybe one of those would be able to implement a2dp so we can have wireless music/video. But if they are still looking, I would not expect much for a while, for a long while.

[kzeusr]

been anticipating USB host capabilities since launch...... Im a little more patient with it though only because i realize the need to focus on key features first. i.e. native..........., android player, etc etc......

[togardergrosse]

Saw a billboard commercial of Nokia phone (forgot which series) that shows off its USB OTG functionality. I don't see any reasons that it won't come to PB.
So, besides other basic features that haven't out yet, we do want USB host/OTG too!

[haimez]

The PlayBook doesn't have email yet. You know, that thing that was sweeping the nation circa 1997. It wont be getting USB on the go support- at least not in our lifetimes.

[togardergrosse]

The PlayBook doesn't have email yet. You know, that thing that was sweeping the nation circa 1997. It wont be getting USB on the go support- at least not in our lifetimes.

Our? If u were referring to your own lifetimes, than I'm sorry to hear that.

[TheScionicMan]

I'd love to see enhanced USB capabilities. That would really give the PB a nice boost. As for email, I've been getting my email on the PB since day 1. Don't really see an issue there...

[xsacha]

Saw a billboard commercial of Nokia phone (forgot which series) that shows off its USB OTG functionality. I don't see any reasons that it won't come to PB.

All Symbian^3 (Nokia) handsets -- there's about 10 of them -- can do USB OTG.

I tried it with one of my handsets to the Playbook and the Playbook mounted as a DVD with Windows drivers on it.

[rleo25]

USB host capabilities is a basic need, it would open massive data interchange, even playing media (video) from an external disk, this will come paired with some kind of app to convert or read different kind of files even apps, that means something like a gate to heaven.... to me this should be priority one A !

[peter9477]

I've posted in other threads about how 1.0.7 added some low-level support relating to this, along with the drivers for magnetometer and gyroscope. Host mode is a massive effort, though, so don't expect to see all your favourite devices magically supported initially.

[Gerii]

I'd really like to see USB OTG functionality so I can view the photos of my camera on the Playbook without the need of a PC. Right now I can do this on my Nokia N8 but it's not that much useful because the screen is smaller than the one of my camera, although it's better usable in sunlight and has more vivid colors. For me it would be even more useful than the Android player and native email (even as I don't have a BB to use Bridge). What I would also like to see in terms of features is the addition of the Bluetooth file transfer profile.

@peter9477: Is there a gyroscope and magnetometer in the WiFi Playbook?

[peter9477]

@peter9477: Is there a gyroscope and magnetometer in the WiFi Playbook?

Yes, there is. Unfortunately there's still no support for them that's accessible to AIR developers, though I imagine those with early access to the native SDK can get to it. The Android player was able to use both those features.

I haven't heard from anyone how effective either of them are though. It's always possible that some untested hardware feature like that turns out to be poorly done in the first version, so maybe we early adopters will find our tablets never work effectively as compasses (as we're still seeing where the GPS capability is substandard). I have hopes for something better than that though...

By the way, the original press release with details on the retail channels was where they first officially confirmed these sensors: http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=4914

[JustAnotherBeerbot]

Certainly USB host mode drivers exist for QNX since they are already in the automotive infotainment space. The QNX Car platform should have support for plugging in USB flash drives. Even if the low-level stuff was in place on the Playbook, there's a whole whack more of software stack to support it all the way up to the application layer.

[PB-Otaku]

USB host mode would be nice, but I am able to get around storage by using a Seagate GoFlex Satellite wifi drive. The drive works well with the PB and has a rechargeable battery so I can take with me.

[missing_K-W]

Interesting that they are looking for driver support. Maybe one of those would be able to implement a2dp so we can have wireless music/video. But if they are still looking, I would not expect much for a while, for a long while.

QNX is hiring driver developers..postings were listed Feb 10, 2011

Job posting link-check it out and give an analysis

Current Job Openings

This is cool!

PB needs a strong driver support network in order to bring advanced support functions