[pacoman03]

Well, they should be coming, hopefully before BB 10 hits the PB.

[Angus_CB]

dear sir,

I am hoping for a flash drive that is micro usb. Not a regular usb flash drive that I can plug into an adapter then into the playbook. I am aware adapters are available.

Do they make these yet? I honestly do not know.

Even if micro USB flash drives were available they wouldn't work without an OTG adapter between the flash drive and the Playbook.
Either that or the drive would have to be OTG enabled, which is very possible. See pacoman03 's example above.
Pin 4 is not used with a standard USB connector. With OTG pin 4 is connected to ground (Pin 5).

[dugggggg]

The grounding of pin 4 (as opposed to leaving it unconnected/"floating") is how the PlayBook can tell whether it should act as a peripheral---as it normally does when connected to a computer---or as the host for an OTG device like a flash drive. Today's "big usb" flash drives don't have the five pins, so the adapter cable must do the necessary grounding. By simpling grounding pin 4 themselves, future micro usb drives eliminate the need for an adapter cable.

[peter9477]

well I seen now that the uk police are using playbooks...camera is on the dash is connected via a usb hub, plugged into the play book.... that's what got my head tilted in the first place lol

The PlayBook is not acting as a host in this situation, however, so it means little to us for now. We need to wait for BB10.

[Herve5]

I found the only guy that did implement OTG on a rooted PB, there.
My position is indeed it's not possible anymore unless with an old rooted system, but may come officially with BB10... in one year from now for the Playbooks...
I think this comes from the (stubborn) need to address autoconnections with a PC or Mac "Blackberry Desktop Software", which is pathetic indeed.
RIM appears to indeed have everything onboard to announce a feature no other tablet has. But they won't. --Like there were so many such features.
H.

[SifJar]

I found the only guy that did implement OTG on a rooted PB, there.
My position is indeed it's not possible anymore unless with an old rooted system, but may come officially with BB10... in one year from now for the Playbooks...
I think this comes from the (stubborn) need to address autoconnections with a PC or Mac "Blackberry Desktop Software", which is pathetic indeed.
RIM appears to indeed have everything onboard to announce a feature no other tablet has. But they won't. --Like there were so many such features.
H.

That's not the "only guy" who did it, there are plenty of people who did. There's even a script included with DingleBerry for doing it.

[David Cecil]

Yeah, bought two adaptor cables from Amazon and I've connected my flash drive and of course it doesn't work, but seems I must wait for a software changes, hehehe. Like I'm still waiting for the BB10 upgrade for my Playbook....hehehe

[jpash549]

The playbook has the hardware but not the software yet

BlackBerry 10 USB Host & Bluetooth Accessories Coming! (USB & Bluetooth APIs)
BlackBerry 10 USB Host & Bluetooth Accessories Coming! (USB & Bluetooth APIs) - BerryReview

And that was April 19,2012. What has taken so long? Did they find out it was too difficult or impossible?

[blueberrymerry]

The kernel modules are there in the PB OS and I assume they're in BB10 also. I think RIM left it out because of some misplaced emphasis on "security", also like requiring special drivers to be installed on a PC to access the Playbook's storage.

In short, RIM can but won't.

[uncle_numpty]

Given that nothing official is emerging from BB about the playbook and that in Kevins interview with the CEO the playbook didnt' even warrant a mention (or question ) I don't hold out a lot of hope for updates to the OS or even BB10.

And please don't say that 'BB10 is comming', 'Thor said this year' etc. that pony's been beat to death and as usual nothings turned up.

Shame really - the hardware is still good enough and QNX has better performance than android, but BB's lack of drive and vision has just about killed my enthusiasm for it and them.

[axllebeer]

Maybe I should find the connector in advance - showing some (minimal) faith in bb10 and Rim. Anyone got a link for such a connector or a model or....?

Amazon.com: SANOXY Micro USB Host Mode OTG Cable Flash Drive SD T-Flash Card Adapter FOR Samsung GT-i9100 i9100 Galaxy S II 2 GT-N7000 Galaxy Note: Cell Phones & Accessories

I have this one ready to go when it arrives. Works on Android, so I'm sure it will work on the PlayBook too.

I know, wishful thinking. But good to plan ahead. And it's only $2.

[blueberrymerry]

At this point, I'm tempted to say "To h3ll with Thorsten Heins and Blackberry!"

PBOS had the USB OTG code in it for two years already but it's not turned on. BB10 probably has it too but it's left idle because Blackberry want you to use their clunky sync software instead of treating their devices like mobile computers. Symbian^3 had USB OTG from the start in 2010, Android had it a year later, but Blackberry takes it own sweet time sitting on its behind.

Thorsten Heins, do you even know what a mobile computer is? You continue to focus on the enterprise market that already dumped Blackberry years back while you give the middle finger to consumers who actually drive the tech industry's growth. If you want to sell a million units a year to governments and corporations who want security at the expense of everything else, fine - you'll just have to shrink your company down by 90%.

[sad_old_man]

At this point, I'm tempted to say "To h3ll with Thorsten Heins and Blackberry!"

PBOS had the USB OTG code in it for two years already but it's not turned on. BB10 probably has it too but it's left idle because Blackberry want you to use their clunky sync software instead of treating their devices like mobile computers. Symbian^3 had USB OTG from the start in 2010, Android had it a year later, but Blackberry takes it own sweet time sitting on its behind.

Thorsten Heins, do you even know what a mobile computer is? You continue to focus on the enterprise market that already dumped Blackberry years back while you give the middle finger to consumers who actually drive the tech industry's growth. If you want to sell a million units a year to governments and corporations who want security at the expense of everything else, fine - you'll just have to shrink your company down by 90%.

I love it, I love it, I absolutely love it. By the way you will be rebuked for that but I found it so good that you can just blame me for it!

ps no he doesn't know what one is?

[FF22]

Amazon.com: SANOXY Micro USB Host Mode OTG Cable Flash Drive SD T-Flash Card Adapter FOR Samsung GT-i9100 i9100 Galaxy S II 2 GT-N7000 Galaxy Note: Cell Phones & Accessories

I have this one ready to go when it arrives. Works on Android, so I'm sure it will work on the PlayBook too.

I know, wishful thinking. But good to plan ahead. And it's only $2.

Thanks for the info and link. But, alas, at this point, I fully doubt that the pb will ever get the feature enabled. YEP, I get more and more cynical as time goes by and there's been no glimmer of any changes. As mentioned in the post after yours, even the brand new devices do not have it enabled. While I agree with that post it is most likely a security issue (copying sensitive corporate or cia files), it is completely ridiculous that it is not available.

But for that price and that at that price, it ships all the way across the Pacific Ocean, well, I will probably wind up with some device* that uses OTG in the future so why not be prepared - I ordered one.

* It will most likely NOT be a BB device. Besides not having OTG, they also don't have a REAL BRIDGE anymore!

[xamdam]

It would be nice to USB OTG opened up on the playbook as well as on the Z10 or any BB10 device as it can be used for transferring files easily to a usb thumb drive. It would be nice to transfer pictures to a usb thumb drive or a micro sd card with adapter so you can take to Wal-Mart printing machines instead of having to go home, take pictures on the device onto you computer and then transfer them on to a micro sd card, then drive to Wal-Mart... lots of gas and time taken.

Sure you can just bring a long your 10.1 megapixel camera or whatever with micro sd card in it already and snap a bunch of pictures and drive to Wal-Mart, but that defeats the purpose of just carrying you phone and or playbook with you. Who wants to carry 2-3-4 devices with then and a camera as well, sure as heck not me.

[El Platanero]

I only use my playbook for movies now. Hope they make some changes worth using it again.

Feel free to add me 24EFEB55

[axllebeer]

Thanks for the info and link. But, alas, at this point, I fully doubt that the pb will ever get the feature enabled. YEP, I get more and more cynical as time goes by and there's been no glimmer of any changes. As mentioned in the post after yours, even the brand new devices do not have it enabled. While I agree with that post it is most likely a security issue (copying sensitive corporate or cia files), it is completely ridiculous that it is not available.

But for that price and that at that price, it ships all the way across the Pacific Ocean, well, I will probably wind up with some device* that uses OTG in the future so why not be prepared - I ordered one.

* It will most likely NOT be a BB device. Besides not having OTG, they also don't have a REAL BRIDGE anymore!

Totally understand. My hopes for the PlayBook are getting pretty dismal anymore. I still use it, but I doubt we will see OTG in the near future, if ever. But I got this for an Android phone I have for now, and it has worked with everything I've used yet.

I didn't know that OTG wasn't enabled on BB10 yet either! That's just getting to the point of it being shameful.

[bronco26]

Totally understand. My hopes for the PlayBook are getting pretty dismal anymore. I still use it, but I doubt we will see OTG in the near future, if ever. But I got this for an Android phone I have for now, and it has worked with everything I've used yet.

I didn't know that OTG wasn't enabled on BB10 yet either! That's just getting to the point of it being shameful.

Don't you need to root your android device to use OTG?

[jpash549]

Don't you need to root your android device to use OTG?

There is an app for the Nexus 7 called Nexus Media Importer ($3) which allows use of the OTG for flash and external hard drives. Rooting is not required. Requires use of Android 4.0+ and USB host support on the device. In the description on Google Play Store more information is provide as to which devices are supported.

[axllebeer]

Don't you need to root your android device to use OTG?

Nope. It's all built into the file system. I use ES file Explorer (a free app) to access the external drive. But if I have pictures or videos on it they will automatically populate in my native Gallery app.

[FF22]

Nope. It's all built into the file system. I use ES file Explorer (a free app) to access the external drive. But if I have pictures on it they will automatically populate in my native Gallery app.

If you detach the usb drive, do the pictures "UNpopulate" the gallery so that they don't wind up as ghost images?

[axllebeer]

If you detach the usb drive, do the pictures "UNpopulate" the gallery so that they don't wind up as ghost images?

Yes they do. I do this all the time when i have taken pictures or video on one device and want to display it on another. Pretty straitforward to do and when the connection is broken all the files and folders disappear as they should. But all folders that I woud have those videos and pictures in will show up the same in the native gallery app, so its easy to find them.

[Andrew4life]

Well, they should be coming, hopefully before BB 10 hits the PB.

That would be awesome because of its small size, and if USB OTG was available, I'd get it, but there is one problem. Phones released thus far have no alternate charging contacts so you would have to disconnect this every time you want to charge your phone. Boo.

Bring back the 8900 style charging contacts!!


Posted via CB10

[FF22]

That would be awesome because of its small size, and if USB OTG was available, I'd get it, but there is one problem. Phones released thus far have no alternate charging contacts so you would have to disconnect this every time you want to charge your phone. Boo.

Bring back the 8900 style charging contacts!!


Posted via CB10

Somehow the cynical me does not think you will ever face that problem as OTG will never show up!

[blueberrymerry]

Symbian and Android phones have the same problem where the micro-USB port is used for data, USB OTG and charging. You can't do everything at once

But that's just a theoretical worry for BB fans because we won't ever see USB OTG anyway!