Review on 🔌 ICZI USB C Hub Multiport Adapter 2021 Upgrade - 8-in-1 USB C Dongle with 4K HDMI VGA Dual Display, 2 USB 3.0 Ports, RJ45 Ethernet, SD/TF Card Reader, USB-C PD 3.0 Charging, and USB Dock for Laptop PC with Webcam by Marlin Atonyo

My relatives recently bought an iPad for my kids. Personally, I have nothing but disdain for Apple products, but my relatives use them, and when we visit them or they visit us, my kids usually play on their devices. I stumbled across this hub and thought it would be really helpful to have with the new iPad. It's a neat little device the size of a hockey puck with lots of ports I've never seen before, and I knew the iPad wasn't going to have many ports. The hub has a short USB-C cable that's about 11.5 inches long and has 8 ports on the outside. Ports include a TF each (Transflash, although I believe it's microSD compatible), SD, Ethernet, HDMI, VGA, and USB-C (so a male USB-C cable and a USB-C port "mother ") and 2 USB 3.0 ports. All ports are labeled on the top of the hub. There is also a small compartment at the top that opens when you remove the magnetic lid. It's all pretty cool and I was dying to try it. However, I made a big mistake. My kids' iPad is the iPad Air. The iPad Air doesn't have a USB-C port. It has its own connector that is almost the same size and shape as a USB-C connector. The iPad Pro has a USB-C connector. To add insult to injury, I don't have any devices other than a Nintendo Switch and a USB-C power bank, and I have no plans to use this with both. However, there were a few things I could do with it. First of all, it had to be checked whether it was possible to charge the device with it. I have a charger with a USB-C port, so I connected this hub to it and connected the phone to one of the USB 3.0 ports. It worked fine. I also used a USB-C cable and plugged one end into a USB-C jack and the other end into a charger and was still able to charge my phone. I could also check if it's possible to bypass the USB-C cable and just use ports as inputs/outputs. That is, can I connect the laptop to the hub with an HDMI cable and then connect the monitor to the hub with a VGA cable and the laptop display will appear on the monitor, or can I connect the laptop via HDMI and use the LAN port. connect to the Internet? HDMI cables have been able to carry an Ethernet signal since version 1.4 I believe. Unfortunately, the answer seems to be no. I even connected the USB-C cable to the charger to see if it worked. It seems that a USB-C cable needs to be connected to the device in order to send or receive a signal from other ports. You may have noticed that I rated this device 4 stars out of 5, which may seem odd given that I haven't been able to test most of its supposed features. Although I haven't been able to test these features, I'm sure they will work fine based on my experience with other connectors. For example, I have a small device with HDMI on one side and DVI on the other. This hub consists of multiple XY adapters encased in a single block. The reason I'm deducting a star is because I think this device could be more flexible. Now that's maybe totally unfair, because maybe what I want isn't really possible, but it's not a cheap hub and I could get separate adapters pretty cheap. Yes, there is an advantage to a device having many built-in adapters, but while it's not big, it's not small either. While any of these ports can be useful at any time, most of the time I don't need them. This is the device I would put in a drawer and pull out when needed. I probably won't need VGA or LAN ports very often. If I frequently connect the device to a TV or monitor via the HDMI port, I would probably wish for something smaller. And since it's only equipped with 2 USB 3.0 ports, it doesn't replace a dedicated USB hub. That being said, if they ditch the USB-C cable and add another port (USB-C would be fine) and make it so that any two ports can talk to each other, that would expand the user experience. It might still not be a commonplace thing, but at least you're not limited to plugging a device with a USB-C port into something else. While USB-C is used in many other devices these days, we still use many USB 3.0 and older devices. I mean, this thing has a VGA connector, so they cover older devices at least to some extent. Again, this criticism may be unfair, so if you don't believe it, ignore it. Either way, it's still a pretty cool little hub, and I'm sure it'll become more useful overall as more things get done with USB-C ports.