Today's mobile gadgets, including those on the Android platform, have come close in terms of capabilities to ordinary personal computers. The only thing that desktop devices certainly win over smartphones and tablets is visualization.
Any content, be it photos, videos or some documents, looks much more impressive on a large monitor screen than on a five- or even ten-inch mobile gadget. The same can be said about TV. Information from it is perceived much better, thanks to the large diagonal of the screen.
And if, as a rule, there are no problems with synchronizing smartphones and tablets on a personal computer, due to the well-established procedure, then things are somewhat different with TV. Therefore, many users are wondering: “How to connect a TV to an Android phone?”. Moreover, even owners of devices with smart TV, where such a possibility seems to be implemented, are experiencing serious problems.
So, from our article you will learn how to connect "Android" through a TV andto make it as painless as possible for the user himself and for the equipment. Let's analyze the main methods of synchronization and the subtleties of settings for each specific procedure.
Micro-HDMI
Let's look at how to connect Android to a TV via a Micro-HDMI cable. Some manufacturers still equip their gadgets with such ports. For example, LG at one time included a micro-HDMI interface in the design of almost every one of its Optimus series smartphones.
In addition, gadget firmware had separate tools for synchronization with TV devices of the same brand. In this case, to connect Android to an LG TV, simply connect the two devices with a micro-HDMI cable and the proprietary software will do the rest.
The picture on the TV screen turns out to be original, that is, the same as on a smartphone, without losing any quality. But there are very few phone gadgets with such ports on the mobile technology market, so you have to look for alternatives.
MHL
Some manufacturers have adopted the MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) standard. It also allows you to connect "Android" to the TV. This standard works in tandem with micro-USB charging: it takes the video signal from the port and transmits it to the TV. But in this case, a special MHL adapter is required.
There are no restrictions on content here. The user has the ability to view photos, videos and other materials. In addition, you can work with gaming applications on a large screen. Nevertheless, there are still some features of such a connection.
In addition to the adapter itself, you need a separate 5V power supply to amplify the signal. At the same time, the smartphone, despite being connected to the network, is slowly discharged. It is also worth noting that only MTK processors on the one hand and smart TV equipment on the other can work with the MHL standard. Otherwise, you will not be able to connect Android to the TV.
Connection Features
As such, the setting at the time of synchronization is not required. The smart TV shell automatically detects the mobile device and offers several interaction options: screen sharing, working with applications, installing programs, etc.
Also keep in mind that most inexpensive smartphones and tablets do not support the MHL standard. So before buying a mobile gadget, it would be useful to pay attention to the availability of such an opportunity. Otherwise, you will not be able to connect "Android" to the TV in this way.
Supported devices
Samsung's Galaxy S5 and Sony's Xperia Z2 are striking examples of low-cost devices that offer this capability. The latter works with the MHL version 3.0 standard and is capable of broadcasting in UHD at 30 frames per second, and also supports Blu-ray audio formats.
SlimPort
The next standard after MHL was SlimPort. ButYou can see it mainly on mobile gadgets of the Samsung and LG brands. Actually, this information transfer technology was developed at the suggestion of the latter.
So if you have a smartphone and a TV from these manufacturers at your disposal, then you can easily connect an Android phone to a Samsung or LG TV. This standard provides a better picture due to the lack of decoding. This approach also eliminates lag during image transfer.
Connection Features
In order to connect Android to a Samsung or LG TV, you need a special micro-USB-HDMI adapter. And if in the case of the MHL standard an external power source was needed, then here it is unnecessary. In addition, during the broadcast of the image, the mobile gadget is not discharged, but on the contrary, it is fed. Protocol configuration is also not required. Both devices begin to sync immediately after connection, and the master assistant on the TV will offer options for broadcasting.
Even the most modest first-generation adapter is capable of transmitting a picture in 1080p quality. Among the disadvantages of the standard, one can note the high requirements for the technical qualities of an HDMI cable. The latter should be in a good braid with shielding. Otherwise, noise, artifacts and other interference will appear.
Supported devices
Examples where this standard is applied include LG G2/3/4 phones, almost the entire Galaxy series starting from S6, as well asNexus versions 4, 5 and 7. It is also possible to connect Android to a TV and some Chinese gadgets. Approximately a third of mid-budget models from Huawei and Xiaomi use this standard. The latter must be indicated in the specification for the device. So it would be useful to pay special attention to this moment.
USB interface
You can also connect "Android" to the TV via USB interface. That is, as it happens with a personal computer. In this case, the TV must be of the "Smart" format. The only disadvantage of such a connection is the lack of support for broadcasts.
Smartphone or tablet here acts as an external drive. You can open photos, videos, and documents as normal files, but you can't share your screen. There are special programs for implementing this function, but in this case it is necessary to take into account the model of the TV, mobile gadget, platform version, etc.
Connection setup is similar to PC. We connect two devices with a regular USB cable, with which the device is recharged. On the smartphone itself, you need to specify "Connect as an external drive" in the settings. In the TV menu, in the section for working with content (or something like that), a third-party hard drive should appear, where, using the manager, a file is selected for viewing.
Wireless Protocols
Equipment manufacturers see no prospects for a wired connection and prefer to develop "air" connection protocols. One of the clear advantages of this method is the absence of wires. To transfer data from a phone to a TV, it is enough to synchronize the platforms of the first and second via Wi-Fi or through a home router.
But there is also a fly in the ointment here. The wireless connection has a noticeably poor picture quality during the broadcast. This standard implies strong content compression, so full-fledged streaming has not taken root here.
The situation is changing for the better with special wireless adapters. They provide quite tolerable broadcast of video materials, but it still cannot be called high-quality. Even on the most modern 4K TVs, lags, brakes and “soap” are observed.
So there are no wireless alternatives for broadcasting, especially if you want to see a quality picture on your TV. However, for some users, this is the only way to synchronize a mobile gadget with a TV.
Wi-Fi Direct
This standard is implemented in all Smart TVs equipped with a Wi-Fi module. If your smartphone also has this module, then connecting to the TV will not be difficult. The version of the Android platform does not matter. Each has support for such functionality.
The essence of setting up a tandem operation is to organize a connection without an access point. That is, the smartphone should be recognized by the TV as a multimedia device, and not as an external drive. To do this, you need to enable in the gadget settingsWi-Fi Direct mode, and the Share function on the TV. It's all in the wireless section.
With this connection, you can broadcast the desktop and view photos, but in low resolution. Higher-quality 4K images will take a very long time to load. Naturally, it is not normal to watch video content on such a standard. You can broadcast video files in the old 3GP format, but on a large TV you will see pronounced pixelation due to the poor quality of the videos.
Miracast
This standard came about thanks to the efforts of Intel and was originally conceived as a competing alternative to Apple's AirPlay. Many smart TVs support this protocol and successfully connect to mobile gadgets using it. Starting from version 4.2, the Android platform has this broadcast mode.
In this case, it is already possible to play not only photo content, but also video files, and with a solid resolution of 1080p. True, in this case, many users complain about lags, artifacts and other interference. So this standard falls short of AirPlay capabilities. With the playback of content in 720p, there are noticeably fewer problems.
To set up the connection, you must enable the appropriate modes on your TV and smartphone (“Settings” -> “Screen” -> “Wireless Monitor”). If a smart TV does not have such an opportunity in the stock firmware, then sometimes flashing the device to a more modern and functional one helps.
Here we are talking about models from Chinese manufacturers. The latter are very willing to write proprietary software for their tandems (Xiaomi TV, Xiaomi smartphones), but if your mobile gadget is from another brand, then there may be some problems with synchronization.
