External USB devices to Android phones?

Question

I would like to use Android phones as a way to do some processing and visualization of a sensor that would be attached to the USB port on the phone. The sensor would plug in

Answer 1

What you're looking for is USB Host support.

There's an open issue in Android's issue tracker here for it:

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=738&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars

and it's actually ranked 7th, in terms of "stars" (think votes, by the people), at 1110 stars. You can log in and star it yourself, both to vote for it, and to receive email updates.

There was also work on a patch back in February, 2010:

http://groups.google.com/group/android-kernel/browse_thread/thread/c8471573d7553331

and there's info on using a USB keyboard here:

http://www.tombom.co.uk/blog/?p=124

Perhaps you can find something for your sensor there?

This is cool =):

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/25286/?a=fb

Cheers, Victor