APPROX USB 2.0 4 Port Hub for Tablets - Black

I needed four extra USB ports for a Raspberry Pi Zero which was going to be a "dash cam" for the rear of my car; Wifi (I already had an adaptor, so didn't need the more expensive Pi Zero W),USB camera (again, could have used a PiCam, but wanted to hide the Pi away),GPS (it would be able to log where I'd been),USB flash drive (to record the video on and take it with me at journeys end, rather than accessing the SD card).The Pi Zero and this adaptor fit nicely in a rear cup holder on our people carrier, powered from a USB battery bank - so the Pi stays up when the engine is off - which is plugged into a cigarette lighter to charge the battery while we're driving. That it's USB2.0 means that passengers can connect to the Wifi and see GPS information and even watch the video feed (if they wanted to see what was going on behind them).

This a neat little unit but, while it allows my tablet to talk to normal USB devices, plugging in a power lead to one of the USB ports does NOT charge the micro USB port or the tablet, which is what I wanted. I ended up making a Y lead myself and using a conventional USB hub. It seems various odd interrogations of the port at start up make the tablet decide to be a source of power (which you do want if it is driving a printer dongle or a wireless mouse dongle, for example), or a communications device (i.e. a port) that can also be charged from. They seem to use pull down resistors on certain balanced lines to determine the mode the device turns on as. I was adding a wireless dongle and a USB high quality sound output to DJ with...and the first night the Tablet packed up because although it showed a charge symbol, it was not in fact, charging from the PSU plugged into the USB port.I don't think this is the fault of this device but I now wonder what OTG port means.

It has 4 standard USB ports and a micro USB plug that goes into the phone. On my phone which has OTG support it allows me to add up to four USB devices but of course your battery will drain faster. Two things worthy of note are that it is unlikely that by plugging in a charger to a USB port you will achieve anything as the USB OTG specification bizzarly doesn't seem to support this. Secondly none of my devices that are tablets or phones will allow two SD cards to be connected via micro USB so I am supposing that people want it mainly to add a single SD card keyboard, mouse and so forth for which it works well.

I managed to hook up a regular mouse to my tablet.I also tried to piggy back a standard USB which hard a network port (I was trying to see if I could use a 'wired' connection with my tablet). That did n't work, as I suspect my Android devices did not have the driver for the network port. I guess, I was using it as not intended, but useful, incase someone wants to try. I suspect newer Android devices may support generic network port, but I don't have access to the latest stuff....

Purchased the item to use with my Intel Linx tablet, which needs an OTG adapter to use any USB devices.The item came in plastic blister packaging (so scissors are required to open!). The hub is small and portable but not so small that devices can overlap adjacent ports, which is a good design as the WiFi dongle I use for penetration testing is on the bulky side.The device simply is plug and play. I have also tested this on my Android phone to load some music files from a USB drive, this worked flawlessly.

I use it with a Raspberry Pi Zero to connect keyboard/mouse/wifi dongles, and it works fine. It loses a star because the packaging is horrible and has to be cut open with scissors.

I bought the 4-Port of this Micro USB hub for my Linx 8 so I could attach a full size USB mouse and keyboard to it. The hub works perfectly and makes the 8" Linx far more powerful. The first gen Linx 7 and Linx 10 have Micro USB as well so this should prove equally useful on those tablets too.

I don't usually bother writing reviews but felt I had to for this. It's absolutely perfect for adding extra peripherals to a Raspberry Pi Zero. I have only had it a couple of days so cannot comment on reliability but it's working well and it's a lot smaller than it looks. Your Pi will love you for it!