The MANY Types of USB Forms!
97Most of you will know the common USB plug like this, but did you know that you can convert them from one form factor to another?
For example, most phones these days will use Type-C for charging. Most of you know the Type-C to standard USB cable. We call these Type A. You usually use this to connect to your computer, but you can also have a Type-C dongle like this one so that you can plug in whatever USB devices you like, including HDMI and LAN.
Before Type C, there's micro-USB. And before micro-USB, there's mini-USB. I still have a couple of devices that use those. Micro-USB is still the standard for DualShock 4 and Xbox One controllers. Mini-USB on the other hand is the DualShock 3, and also the standard of some older USB microphones like the Samson Q2U, Samson Go, etc. Oh, and there's also the type-B USB, which is standard for printers, MIDI keyboards, and some Samson microphones like the C01U, the C03U, and the G Track.
Oh, and there's also those cables for external HDD. I have loads of those, and I hate those cables. Man, I'm glad that we have Type-C external hard drives now.
There are adapters to the cables. One cable can be converted to the other. Know the type of cables first before you buy the adapters for them. Personally, I recommend getting USB Type-C to Type-A female adapters. These are known as OTG, and you can plug in your external hard drives, mouse, keyboard, anything that has a USB end. Experiment and see what your phone is capable of.