Review on AuviPal 3-Port Micro USB OTG Hub Adapter for Fire Stick 4K, Playstation Classic, Raspberry Pi Zero & More - Black by Brian Wesley

This device is great for the traveling photographer. This allows me to back up my photos (and view the JPG versions on a nicer, bigger screen) without having to travel with my laptop. Instead, I can use my Android tablet or even my Android phone. This very small and light USB hub connects to my 2017 Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 Android tablet. I connect a USB flash drive and either a cable to my camera's USB output jack or a tiny SD card reader with a card from my camera. I then use the file manager app (the default Samsung Files app works fine, as does the default Android Files app on my phone, which I actually prefer to the Google Files app) to select all the files I'm duplicating and copying want in a flash drive. File transfers are not fast (200 files totaling 2.79 GB were copied in 5 minutes 50 seconds, or about 8 MB/s [64 megabits per second]). I think the sluggishness may be partly due to the 512GB Sandisk Ultra Flair USB 3.0 flash drive I'm using, as it slows dramatically on large writes even when plugged into a PC, presumably to prevent overheating . Because it starts out fast and then slows down, a large transfer can result in an even lower average transfer rate. But the bottom line is that even such a slow speed is sufficient for one or two transfers of, say, 2 to 10 GB per day. I can do something else for five, ten, even twenty minutes while daytime photos copy themselves. In my 2.79GB test, no device got hotter than barely noticeable. With a small adapter (Micro-USB to USB-C; it MUST be "OTG" [USB "On The Go"] compatible) I can connect this hub to my Pixel 2 phone and transfer files the same way. So if my tablet breaks or I *really* want to travel light, I don't even need a tablet. You can manage files on your phone's small screen, but it's not that convenient. Note that you CANNOT get a USB-C hub and you can't use an adapter to connect it to a micro-USB tablet or phone, as nobody seems to have a USB-compatible USB-C to micro-USB adapter "OTG" sold. So if you want to use the hub with devices that have both types of connectors, you'll need to purchase a micro-USB hub and an OTG-compatible adapter to convert it to USB-C if needed. Apparently there is no other way. Given this limitation, the AuviPal hub reviewed here doesn't have many competitors. You can also connect the charger to the hub. I believe this powers the connected USB devices, but not the tablet or phone at the same time. I haven't tried this feature and don't expect it to be needed. Tip: Make sure to "eject" or "unmount" the flash drive and camera or SD card before disconnecting. This tells the tablet or phone to finish writing any data or file allocation table entries to the flash drive or SD card. I've already found that simply ejecting the flash drive when it appears the file transfer is complete can cause error messages the next time it connects to the PC, although interestingly I haven't lost any data. Difficult to find an "Eject" or "Unmount" command in the Samsung and Android Files apps. On a phone, you can see this by clicking the notification bar on the Android home screen, then clicking the "More" link in the notification for each USB device. I've never found an "Extract" feature in the Google Files app. Physically, the hub seems reasonably well done, but nothing special. I've been drawn to some USB-C hubs with a solid aluminum body, but as mentioned above, a micro-USB hub is more flexible. This one is plastic, not premium but probably good.