Android phones, apps and tablets

Not helpful to you but my Samsung TV does this perfectly wirelessly and not just for Samsung phones I think.

If your telly doesn't do it, isn't that what Chromecast is for?

Yep. I haven't looked into it but I'd be shocked if a Pixel phone would let you connect USB-C to HDMI without some sort of hack. That'd just render Chromecast pointless and why would Google sabotage their own product/business?

Why wouldn't you use a Chromecast, well easy.

Anything that I should look for in terms of specs to see if a phone definitively does/doesn't do this?

Usually the spec lists either HDMI or Disply Port output. If not, then the technology needed is MHL https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link which might be listed in the spec. If nothing is stated, chances are you're not going to be able to drive a monitor from your phone's USB port with just a cable.

The wireless solutions are a whole nother can of worms and seem to be very device dependent.

£30ish a month on Id with £50 up front seems like a bargain, 20 or 50GB or a bit more for unlimited, SIM free I'm paying nearly £20 at the moment for less, but plenty, of data. Only 4G but I think that'll be 5G once the handset is OK'd.

Cheers all. Main use would be for hotel TVs and a chromecast (or other wireless solution) is a real hassle with those.

GSMArena only appears to have a couple of phones with HDMI or displayport so I guess it may require further looking into.

Cheers all. Main use would be for hotel TVs and a chromecast (or other wireless solution) is a real hassle with those.

Not any more, the new Chromecasts and Amazon Fire Sticks work great with hotel TVs and wifi now.

In that you don't need to use the wifi at all or just now allow you to log on to the wifi and get round the device discovery issues?

the new Chromecasts and Amazon Fire Sticks work great with hotel TVs and wifi now

Oooh, that's cool news.

If you can find a usb port.. they're normally non existent or impossible to reach.

If I'm missing something obvious please tell me, I always pack a Chromecast but rarely manage to use it.

If you can find a usb port.. they're normally non existent or impossible to reach.

You don't need USB. Just an HDMI (TV usb never puts out enough power for devices) and there is usually an HDMI on the side of hotel TVs in my experience, although maybe I've just been super lucky. I reckon in 25+ business trips, I've never had a problem plugging a firestick in.

In that you don't need to use the wifi at all or just now allow you to log on to the wifi and get round the device discovery issues?

The new Chromecast allows you to log onto WiFi and bypass the device discovery issue. To my knowledge, firestick never had that problem as it always allowed you to sign in and you use a remote instead of your phone.

Oh yeah I do the USB power thing on my TV for my Chromecast so it definitely does power it without a plug but I did mean hdmi for the Chromecast. Maybe I've just been unlucky/stayed in hotels with shitter tellys haha.

If I'm missing something obvious please tell me, I always pack a Chromecast but rarely manage to use it.

If the back of the TV isn't accessible, do you check for a side HDMI? Another trick is to carry an HDMI extension cable which you can usually plug in at the the back with a little wiggling and swearing even if back is attached to wall bracket.

Edit: I'm staying in a hotel in Germany on Thursday...will be sure to report back !

I normally end up draping Nicola over the back of the TVs, she's got smaller arms to reach up in there.. 🤣

I've yet to see a side HDMI, that's the dream.

It's still relying on good enough wifi to stream stuff though. Direct connection to my phone would mean I could just play the stuff I have offline. Also a bit of remote desktop would be useful.

It's been a long time since I've been in a hotel for work but it was pretty much my life for the last 20+ years.

External hard drive plus laptop (usually had to be client laptop) plus hdmi was my go to.

And then phone plus Chromecast if you were lucky.

And portable tp link WiFi extender plus universal TV remote control for those hotels that really locked things down!

And then phone plus Chromecast if you were lucky.

When Chromecast didn't work in WiFi where you had to sign in I just used firestick (with hdmi extension cable for access) . Seems that I have just been super lucky over the years in terms of good internet and hdmi placement.

I only had a Chromecast fail once, which is why I went with firestick instead.

An HDMI extension cable also helps with WiFi. Signal tends to be far better if you can get the stick away from the back of the TV.

I'm wondering as Google seems to be finally trying to reach the top of the market whether they will do their usual black Friday fire sale prices or not. And will discounts be more than the Bose headphones in the preorder are worth?

Pixel preorder deals are a bit too steep until this explodes completely, will keep an eye on all the shitty black Friday and Xmas ones though.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/features/heres-why-you-should-pre-order-a-google-pixel-6-before-black-friday

Very nearly bought a Pixel 6 in the last few days but I just can't get used to the idea of that camera bar. I had a phone with a bump like that years ago and it was super annoying to take in and out of my trouser pockets.

Anybdy got a pixel 6 who can comment? They otherwise seem like very good phones and the current deal on them is attractive.

Having a weird networky sort of problem with my Pixel 2XL.

When I went to Italy last week data stopped working on 4G. I'm on Talkmobile and I was on Vodafone IT so I called them up and they pushed new settings which got the data roaming working again (although it was meant to be switched on).

I then couldn't access Instagram (and Facebook, not that I ever use it, but it literally wouldn't load the site) on 4G data. It wouldn't work at all until I changed my private DNS settings to Cloudflare, then it sometimes worked, but I still often had to use Wi-Fi instead.

Now I'm back in the UK Instagram works on 4G, but I'm getting ads when connected to my home Wi-Fi which has a Pi Hole - I swear I didn't before. No other devices - including other half's Pixel 4A - are getting ads.

It also has a longstanding issue with Instagram where I can't add a location on 4G because it can never load the list of locations. It has location permissions, and my location works great in other apps such as Google Maps (it's actually better than the other half's 4A).

I've tried playing around with the network settings (including private DNS) to fix these issues but no dice. Any ideas? I'm actually still very happy with it as a phone otherwise and was thinking of replacing the battery because

I do miss the days of Google making phones at reasonable price points

If you can leave it plugged in as it rinses the battery then I'm pretty sure you can set up a WiFi hotspot on your phone and connect the Chromecast to that, might need testing to see if you can play phone content through it that way. I cloned my home network to set up the Chromecast on holiday when I'd packed it but not the remote, no wi-fi in the place so did that and streamed Plex from the laptop and hooked up another phone as a remote, but that part wasn't strictly necessary. Might need to be wary of data use doing that but probably fine if you're not smashing iPlayer or something.

Surface Go with a load of stuff synced on Plex, plus a hdmi cable, has been my go to.

Not that I've been in a hotel for the past eighteen months.

If I had a lot of local content i'd want to play on a hotel telly i'd probably pack a raspberry pi with one of the media server distros on it. You can set up your phone to be the keyboard/mouse easily enough.

Although thats because I usually only take a tablet on trips.