Google's Nexus 7 is both cheap and powerful and its small size makes it easy to carry round. It has no SD card slot as standard, but with only a few steps and minimal fuss, you'll quickly be able to transfer your images from your digital camera's SD card.
You can then review, edit and quickly share them without needing to boot up your PC. It'll also allow you to watch videos stored on the card, meaning you don't need to clog up your precious internal storage with huge video files.
Apart from your Nexus 7 and your SD card full of great photos, you'll need three things:
- An OTG USB cable
- A USB SD card reader
- The Nexus Media Importer app
From here, the process is delightfully simple. Download and install the NMI app. Next, insert the OTG USB cable into the micro USB port at the bottom of your Nexus. That then leaves you with a full-size USB port, into which you'll pop your SD card reader and of course, your SD card.
You can then open the NMI app (it will ask you if you want it to automatically open when you connect an SD card) and browse your files, saving the ones you want to your device.
From there, you can open any of your photos as normal with apps like Snapseed or Instagram to edit and share to your heart's content. If you're a budding photographer, being able to quickly review your images on a bigger screen -- to check for correct focus etc -- could be invaluable, especially as the Nexus is much easier to haul around than a laptop.
It'll work with the Nexus 7 and the bigger Nexus 10 and the cable works with the Samsung Galaxy S3 without needing the app -- a browser automatically opens to show your snaps. I don't have every Android phone made to hand so I'm not sure what the results will be on other devices, but for the cheap price of the cable, it's probably worth a punt anyway.
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Comments 16
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Yong Zhen Kit 7 January, 2013 16:25
Does it support a HDD too?
Andrew Hoyle 7 January, 2013 16:26
Good question, and one I'll be finding out later today.
Yong Zhen Kit 7 January, 2013 16:29
And can I just get any use otg cable?
anonymous 7 January, 2013 16:44
I doubt it will support an external drive unless the drive is powered independently and I would stay away from very cheap ones as Ive found with charging cables they dont fit as well and the quality of the core cable is pathetic.
anonymous 7 January, 2013 18:23
If you root your N7 (which is trivial now - there's software that does it automatically), there's a free app called Stickmount by Chainfire that mounts USB devices as part of the filesystem. 'tis rather good.
anonymous 8 January, 2013 11:38
For HDD it needs to be powered.
It works sometimes without but not every time.
I don't know why only sometimes. I have not looked too hard at this.
I use a Kingston Wi Drive which is storage with Wi-Fi built in 64gb brilliant.
I have no affiliation with them by the way.
anonymous 9 January, 2013 00:16
These things are freaking amazing. I got one in the box with my tablet (acer iconia a700) which you can use for storage, xbox controller, keyboard/mouse and even charging my phone!
Irene Hollas 9 January, 2013 19:48
this is great, but can you transfer files from the tablet to the memory card?
anonymous 10 January, 2013 09:31
no currently you can only transfer from HDD or stream from them. This might affect some people but its fine for me. I will transfer and edit photos (some apps allow RAW editing to) and then when I get home move them off the tablet onto the PC.
I have this set up on my Nexus 7 and is it for
- xbox controller
- transfer photos from SDHC card, great for when travelling.
- 64 gig usb stick with TV and Films on it for when I travel. Can just stream them.
Yong Zhen Kit 13 January, 2013 09:29
*UPDATE*
I tried it on my buffalo and WD 500gb HDD's and both worked perfectly!
anonymous 16 February, 2013 12:01
I have an OTG cable and can easily transfer from an SD card to my Nexus 7 using the Nexus Media Importer app, but I am also looking for a way to transfer files from the Nexus to the SD card. Does anyone know how that can be done?
anonymous 26 February, 2013 10:29
It does not ask me if I want to save pictures
NJM 28 February, 2013 14:18
Does the app and cable work with Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)??
anonymous 21 March, 2013 16:35
Bought the 3 items listed above, but substituted with "Genuine Integral Card Reader SDHC SDXC". Works perfectly with my Nexus 7 running Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
Thanks for the article
anonymous 4 April, 2013 22:58
Can you transfer your edited photos onto a flash drive thru the OTG cable?
anonymous 20 April, 2013 03:15
Hi, can I watch video's from SD card using OTG cable to Nexus 7 ?