Develop Bugs

Review of the GrayBean Card reader-OTG USB Hub #GB-CR

This is my review of the GrayBean multicard reader-OTG USB Hub Connection kit Model: GB-CR
The Graybean GB-CR is a multicard reader and USB hub which is shipped and sold by Seller1ON1 via Amazon.com. it lists for $13.26 and comes with a Blue mini capacitive pen which for us Note 10.1 users, is not needed. The description on Amazon states that it can be used on the following devices..
Samsung Galaxy tab P7300 / P7310 /P7500 / 7510
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 inch / 10 inch
and I can attest that it also works for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
Packaging and Design
The device came in a plastic zip locked type of bag along with the mini blue capacitive pen.
Front and back of the package.
When I took the device out of the packaging I was actually surprised to see how small it is. The image on Amazon makes it look much larger. The dimensions of the unit are shown below.
Available ports
The available ports on the device are as follows...
1 SD card
1 TF card
1 MS card
1 M2 card
3 USB 2.0
1 DC Input 5V (3.5 1.35mm, 5V, 2A)
There is also a led light that turns on once you attach the device to the tablet.
Although in Amazon there is an image of the device with a power cord attached to it, (as shown below) the device does not come with any power adapter. (More on this later).
Uses and Testing
First let me state that I do not own any MM, M2, or TF cards, so I did not test those ports.
I inserted the Graybean into the Galaxy Note 10.1 and unlike cables and plugs from Samsung which have the Samsung name on top of the plug, the one from Graybean does not indicate which is the top of the plug. So you have to be careful to make sure that the plug notches are facing upward when pluging in the cable into the Note 10.1 otherwise you may damage the port on the tablet.
I proceeded to test the SD card. I inserted a microsd card into the usual SD card adapter and inserted it into the GrayBean.
Immediately the File Manager opens up and i see UsbDriveA. i select a video off of the sd card and it plays flawlessly and without studder.
I then wanted to try to see if I can use a mouse so i attahed the dongle from my Logitech Wireless Touchpad and it also immediately placed a cursor on the screen.
Considering that it has numerous USB ports, my next test was to see if another SD card can be attached.
As you can see from the image, both UsbDriveA and UsbDriveB show up in the file manager.
At this point I wanted to see if I can use a usb extended cable with the GrayBean.
I inserted the AmazonBasics usb extended cable and I was able to still access the sd card.
I was able to test three sdCards inserted in the GrayBean and all three showed up in the file manager.
A Note on External Power and Devices
As mentioned above, the GrayBean does not come with a power adapter. In the Amazon description it states 3.5mm outside / 1.35mm inside, 5V, 2A power port and locating a power adapter for the GrayBean is not easy. One buyer on Amazon mentioned the Enercell adaptaplug tip 'H" would fit the port, but trying to find the tip as well as the actual cable/adapter has been a bit hard.
I did manage to have bought a while back for my Dell laptop the BiXpower USB Port Power Cable that comes with 3 extra connector tips and which so happens to fit the GrayBean.
I did managed to attach an external usb hard drive and the file manager was able to read it, but the hard drive has to have its own power source and also be formatted to fat32, otherwise it won't be seen by the Note 10.1. since the device itself even plugging in a power source, will not power up anthing attach to it.
Conclusion
Its a very useful device that allows numerous sdcard and usb flash drives to be connected to it. Although I do not see myself carrying it around all the time, it will come useful on my desk. I only wish the manufacturer would have included a power adapter withit as well as make the power aactually power up the device (such as hard drives etc) that are attached to it.
TS

Great review, but I'm unclear on something. With the power source connected to the hub, were you able to charge the Note 10.1? I bought the hub and it's tremendously useful. If I could charge the Note while this was plugged in I would definitely go buy a plug.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

TheBadBen said:
Great review, but I'm unclear on something. With the power source connected to the hub, were you able to charge the Note 10.1? I bought the hub and it's tremendously useful. If I could charge the Note while this was plugged in I would definitely go buy a plug.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the info on this page. I'm getting the idea it doesn't.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084SZB5E/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=AUINAUJRKUKIE

toenail_flicker said:
Read the info on this page. I'm getting the idea it doesn't.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084SZB5E/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=AUINAUJRKUKIE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aaahhhh... Now I see the big "Not for charging!!!" under technical specs. Thanks for the direction.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 2

TheBadBen said:
Aaahhhh... Now I see the big "Not for charging!!!" under technical specs. Thanks for the direction.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome.

My first one fit VERY tight when connecting it to my Note. The seller RMA'd me another and although it still is a bit tight it does not seem like it would damage the port.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 2

Sorry for my lack of knowledge. Does this adapter take all 3 sizes of SDHC Cards without the use of SD adapters? Thank you.
EDIT: Answered my own question by reading the reviews on Amazon. It takes SD and MicroSD. No MiniSD. I just ordered one myself at $18 and price just popped back down to $14. Can't win sometimes.

Great review!
I've already ordered one of these as well (as a standard OTG tablet to female USB connector and a few more charging cables) through eBay. I'll give my thoughts when I receive it, but what appealed to me over the official Samsung OTG card reader, is that this one connects via a short cable, rather than attaching the device to the bottom of the tablet itself.

Could u connect an external dvd drive to it and see if it works and plays the dvd or something
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Sent from a I9000 running JB Rom
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If I helped you hit thanks

saltorio said:
Great review!
I've already ordered one of these as well (as a standard OTG tablet to female USB connector and a few more charging cables) through eBay. I'll give my thoughts when I receive it, but what appealed to me over the official Samsung OTG card reader, is that this one connects via a short cable, rather than attaching the device to the bottom of the tablet itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already got mine, great price. Need some additional cables, though.

W1nst0n said:
Could u connect an external dvd drive to it and see if it works and plays the dvd or something
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Sent from a I9000 running JB Rom
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If I helped you hit thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 please test... mainly b/c i've been lookig at buying this here it would be amazing if it worked out of the box on the note 10.1

I bought my first Graybean Hub/CardReader from the same amazon vendor as noted in the first post here and it was not recognized by my Note 10.1 at all; no LED lights. I returned it and got another one. As least the second one is sporadically trying to connect (as if the connection is not secure). No LED lights and never got any notification in my file manager. The 30 pin connectors are really tight. Looks like I'm taking that one back too and exchange it for a 3rd one. Noting it each time in my Amazon product review.
Also, both of these received from Amazon/Gray Bean did not look new. There are many scratches on the plastic area of the 30 pin connector as well as the main section. Product package is not sealed by design- just ziplock. I would like to know if any of you are having or had the same issues right away or after using it a while. Or can you offer any advice? Thanks so much.

wgraz said:
I bought my first Graybean Hub/CardReeader from the same amazon vendor as noted in the first post here and that one was not recognized by my Note 10.1. I returned it and got another one; same thing. I would like to know if any of you are having issues with these after using it a while. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got mine last week, but haven't been able to get it (or the straight OTG USB adapter I also bought) to work. In both cases, the OTG connector is properly recognized by my Note (the system reports a USB connection when I plug it in). But if I plug anything into the OTG connector (thumb drive, keyboard, mouse, SD card) it mounts and then immediately dismounts and then continually loops mounting and dismounting the plugged in device.
Haven't been able to figure out the problem (may be the ROM I'm running, or the fact I'm running a 800X ROM on a 801X device)?

Your post put me into action. I hadn't tested mine so got it out and it works fine, though it won't show more than one attachment at a time. That's a bit odd. Not going to mess with it right now, though.

What's strange is, when visiting the Graybean website, I cannot find this card reader.. I also noticed that there are no serial numbers attached to the actual product.

wgraz said:
I noticed that there are no serial numbers attached to the actual product. Graybean can keep on putting the same used connectors in different bags. The bags have the serial number. If you want to call it that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Took a jack hammer to get into my bag. Top was sealed above zip lock and couldn't rip it. Lights light and items show up in file manager. Only tried Samsung's so maybe that's why more than one at a time didn't show. My plate's pretty full today and don't have time to mess with much.

toenail_flicker said:
Took a jack hammer to get into my bag. Top was sealed above zip lock and couldn't rip it. Lights light and items show uo in file manager. Only tried Samsung's so maybe that's why more than one at a time didn't show. My plate's pretty full today and don't have time to mess with much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really! The first one and it's replacement where not sealed at the top! Only the zip-lock. Thanks!

If anyone is interested I still have two of these from my whe I had my Note 10.1. Jumped ship to the Nexus 10.

distortion said:
If anyone is interested I still have two of these from my whe I had my Note 10.1. Jumped ship to the Nexus 10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The N10 would have to be dipped in platinum and covered in rare gems for me to ever do that. Even then then I'd keep my GNote.

I tried to get hold of such a device on amazon.de, they don't have the item available. Amazon.com has it, but will not ship abroad :crying:
Investigating a little more on various sources, I came back to amazon.de, where I found a lookalike device (USB 2.0 Hub OTG Connection Kit + MS TF SDHC M2 Card Reader Kartenleser Adapter Kabel für samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1) for a reasonable price.
This unit comes with a powercord (which connects to any USB power supply), less pen (which I don't need anyway on the Galaxy Note 10.1) also the Galaxy plug is marked with a line on the upper side, so you don't have to try and break it.
Functionality is as described, alas the Galaxy Note does not recharge on the power from the hub :crying: which is what I had hoped for. Not sure if the thing can be modified to supply power to the Galaxy too. Any suggestions are welcome.
I don't upload photos, as the unit is exactly as on the pics above.
Thanks for the review, which made me aware of that option in the first place. :good:

Additional power and external storage - advice, please!

Fingers crossed :fingers-crossed: my shiny new HTC One should be arriving tomorrow. Thanks to HTC's idiotic decision not to supply either a removable battery or a memory card slot, I am going to need both some form of external storage that the phone can access - perhaps a flash drive accessed via OTG, but I'm open to other suggestions - and an external battery/charger of some kind; and (which may be the tricky part) it has to be possible to access both of these things simultaneously.
With regards to power, capacity is clearly important (i.e. the number of mAh held) but it does also need to be reasonably portable - not something that weighs over a pound! - and, if at all possible, it should be something that can be charged or replenished very quickly. Ideally it should be able to charge the phone's internal battery as fast as a mains charger can.
For storage, I need a decent amount - 32GB is the absolute minimum, but 64GB or more would be better. It would also be helpful to have something not too big and heavy (I'll be carrying it around at all times). And, if possible, it should also be fast - especially when transferring files from a PC.
I may be acquiring a case at some point as well - not sure about that yet.
Advice, please!

Shasarak said:
Advice, please!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.seagate.com/em/en/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/wireless-plus/
http://www.expansys.com/samsung-portable-battery-charging-pack-9000mah-241435/

Damn..the Seagate Wireless Plus looks nice
.. dear easter bunny

For battery bank what's most advisable?
HTC's official 6000mAh battery bank £44.99
or
Anker 10000mAh battery bank £37.99
Seems like a no brainer, but the Anker seems to be really bulky in comparison.

HTC reckon their battery bank will give 2 full charges......and that Anker one is nearly a foot long !!

jhenrikj said:
http://www.seagate.com/em/en/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/wireless-plus/
http://www.expansys.com/samsung-portable-battery-charging-pack-9000mah-241435/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is it about the Samsung battery pack that makes it worth £70? There may very well be something, but I'd like to know what.

I've got a NAS with TB's of storage so the 26GB usable 'limit' is irrelevant.

compact_bijou said:
I've got a NAS with TB's of storage so the 26GB usable 'limit' is irrelevant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it fit in your pocket?

Anyone have any other suggestions? I'm somewhat tempted by that Seagate drive, but I'm a bit uneasy about using storage that has its own onboard battery and needs to be charged independently of the phone - combined with a rechargeable battery pack, that's an awful lot of things to charge up. It's also bulky and probably mechanically rather fragile - hard drives don't much like being bounced around while they're operating. And then there's the cost....
Has anyone come up with a cable which lets you connect OTG USB storage and an external battery or charger simultaneously?

The one works well with my sandisk cruizer extreme, and it's seriously quick provided you have usb 3.0
I believe maxell have a wireless flash drive, kingston have a wireless ssd as well.

huxley309 said:
The one works well with my sandisk cruizer extreme, and it's seriously quick provided you have usb 3.0
I believe maxell have a wireless flash drive, kingston have a wireless ssd as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Maxell device is an interesting possibility. It's essentially a wireless adapter for a memory card - not a micro-sd card of the sort you get in a phone, but a full-size sd card of the kind designed for digital cameras. You then transfer files (or stream them) via wifi rather than a direct connection to the phone. You can (I think) move files onto it from a PC via USB (USB 2.0 only, though). I get the impression it's designed more for iOS than Android....
http://www.airstash.com/#specs
But I'm still not sure a wireless device is the way to go - like I said, that's one extra device you have to remember to charge up, not to mention the complications of getting the phone to connect to the Internet over wifi and to the external drive at the same time, plus possible security implications, etc. I would have thought there must be some sort of adapter to allow a USB storage device and a charger or external battery to be connected to the phone at the same time...?

For example, suppose you had a cable like this: http://einfiniteshop.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/usb-otg-cable-with-external-usb-power.html
Or this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009YPYORM
I think these cables are designed for situations where you want to use an external power supply to power your OTG device; but could the external power supply charge the phone as well (or instead)? Or is that not possible?

Need some input!

Didn't know whether to put this in General or Accessories.
I have been toying with the idea to make something for the HTC one, really would be compatible with most all android phones. I don't have a tablet as it's an awkward device to use most of the time. Doesn't type too well and they tend to be more breakable than I would like. Now as some of you will point out something like this has existed before, although I didn't even know about it till recently.
The Atrix. Basically it was a phone that could plug into a laptop, "shell" and be the core for the laptop. Kinda like a portable bigger screen and a mechanical keyboard and track pad for mouse.
Now I want to do the same thing for the HTC One (m7). Mine is fully rooted and uses the Version 31 HD Rom.
I know most of you who know anything about the phone there are a few ways to go about this.
1. MHL - HDMI - LCD Controller Board - Video
Bluetooth'd USB Hub - Input (I have a plan drawn up on creating my own Bluetooth setup to do this.)
2. NFC for all Video / Input: I have done some research into the NFC field and from what I understand it has a very high data throughput, but I would have to make a custom Android program as well as a custom receiver set-up.
3. Design and program a 11 pin micro usb connector to connect in place of the micro usb connector that is in the phone. This would also require a special program to utilize.
In all cases I will use a power control board that will work both off battery and the wall. The easiest of them all will be number one. For the other it would take me substantially longer to learn what I need to make them happen. Also the benefits of number one would be having extra usb ports past just the keyboard and track pad.
What do you guys think? For my life style and job it would be the ultimate machine. My current laptop is a Compaq 6910p that I have been nursing along. I have blown a could resistors off it already and soldered in jumpers.
The point I'm trying to make is the HTC One is more than capable of running NES - PS2 games quite well while my laptop has trouble with just PS1 games and some DS games.
Wouldn't it make since to combine the two? Have the phone as the core and the laptop shell for when I need a more desktop like environment?
Kinda a price out for something like this:
LCD Screen about 50 dollars.
Controller Board about 30 dollars.
Bluetooth'd USB Hub about 70 dollars.
Power circuits about 50 dollars.
Shell any crappy old laptop shell will do, free.
Laptop Keyboard and Track Pad about 30 dollars or free from a donor.
So anywhere between 200 -250 dollars to make the prototype. Then I can take my design to a circuit board company and get a single board designed that can do all of it and shrink the laptop design even further or add new accessories.

I have all the found all the items needed to make a prototype. The hardest part that I have still to do is design an auto off circuit that charges the battery but doesn't flow into the power bus.
The easiest would be to have 2 separate battery packs, once the low voltage is reached it would switch to the second battery pack, and charge the first one if plugged in.
If anyone could contribute to a simple specific design or item that can be purchased to help with this matter feel free to chime in.
The battery packs I am designing are using a Li-Polymer pack. Just one of these packs I'm build should last multiple days of use, & charge your phone.
I will not initially be able to include a USB port, I have to design a micro controller to take USB convert it to Bluetooth then make an android program to change it back for use.
I'm initially gonna make the prototype on a piece of acrylic, flat, to get testing and working hammered out.
I will then move to making a light weight housing to package it.
Since I am using a lot of pre-built components I will not be able to patent this but I can make money building them for people. Of course once I finish and have it all working I will post links to all the items I used so ambitious individuals can venture to build their own.

I have no interest in such an item but I am looking forward to seeing your progress on this.

Its so funny you mention this, 2 days ago I was looking up if there were any such things up for the HTC one or any new phones of some kind of lapdock item. I ALMOST considered buying an outdated device just to toy with the lap dock 500 and use it. I has that lap dock during the bad snowstorm 2 years ago in the NE on Halloween and it kept my phone charging as well as a good size to browse the web.
Please let me know how this works out, as well as a kick starter if you make one. It would be nice to have a software to use when on the lap dock that's separate from just an enlarged android screen!!
The agnostic, dyslexic, insomniac stayed up all night wondering if there really was a dog.

this sounds cool, however i myself dont see much people having a use for this. i look forward to your progress.

Attached are diagrams of the power circuit i created over the last few days. Made so you can charge the battery when plugged in and use the wall power. Incorporated a smart charging design to prevent over charging or discharging.
This will keep your phone powered and even charge your phone. All those components are no bigger than 1x2x1in each.
With using a mechanical relay since it was the simplest when you unplug from the wall there might be a screen flash because of the mili-sec interrupt in power. Since the phone & BT Input both have internal batteries you wont lose your BT Sync. Once power come back on, MHL will resume.
Now I know there are probally smaller circuit card designes out that but those are expensive. By using all premade and mostly inexpensive parts can bring the price down consierably.
I will be working with a ~14 inch laptop screen 1280x800 max rez. The video controller board I am working with is capable of running up to a 1080p LCD monitor.
I have located every componet needed to make this project a reality, but since some will be coming from china it may take ahile to get an assembled prototype.
Next Ill be writing down the sizes of each componet to get a generic idea of the size of the power circuit compartment.
Because I found some high capacity high current Li-Ion batteries the potential for this to be usefull will increase expecially if i can keep a phone charged for a week off it.
The down side is the high capacity will take longer to recharge.
The total weight of this laptop seems like it will be between 2-3 Lbs, rough estimate.
The only down side to my circuit is that if you plug it into the wall and have the switch in battery still the video control board will not power up. I do not want the charger feeding the power bus.
I will be installing three voltage monitoring small digital displays in the prototype so I can monitor voltage drop over time on the battery and set a safe low limit and measure acurate time through real world usage.
Once I get a fully working design I will take my work to a PCB company and make a single board design.
There are two ways to use this design, the stock way which emulates or extends the stock android desktop.
The second is how I will use it, I dual boot Android and Ubuntu at the same time using a handy free app. Once I plug in my phone I will put Ubuntu on the display for a desktop environment and still have access to my android through my phone.
Currently Ubuntu is trying to create a working Android replacment OS, other than Nexus devices they have been unable to get the phone part working yet so I'm following that as well.
Which type of mount would you like to see?
A vertical off to the side
A horizontal laid into the input surface
A slide in compartment where you can't see phone at all anymore

So I did some more research it seems connection wise it will be possible to create a Bluetooth usb hub. using a external powered 9 pin serial Bluetooth adapter - 9-pin serial to usb cable - female/female usb adapter - external powered usb hub.
Connection wise it would work but I'm not sure if it would allow you to read and rite tot he drive. I'm reading more into the slave/master modes.
there is also some information I have to figure out with the RS spec. there are apparently multiple specs. RS232 and the like.
Although this probably wont make it into the prototype it's a step forward in learning.

Good luck with this. No use for me but I'm sure there is people out there willing to use it

Note 4 USB 2.0? 3.0? Plug type? Speed difference?

So I have a note 3 currently and happy, best phone to date personally, I had mine in my cart about to buy my new note 4 today! however today as I was helping a friend who wanted a solution to use his phone to do his job which requires moving files from a USB drive from a device to his phone to be emailed, I sent him to get a note 4 he calls me and tells me the plug is not like my note 3,(I use an adapter from Phone to a USB 3.0 harddrive currently on my note 3) so I start looking into this and seems they have changed back to the single plug now and will only be a 2.0 USB connection, is this correct and can anyone who has used a note 3 with an adapter and a USB drive and now use a note 4, how much performance loss do you see?
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Sent from my SM-N900P using XDA Free mobile app

Honestly, I didn't see a difference. In fact, it surprised me how fast the transfers were when I was uploading music, videos, and pictures.

If you have USB 3.0 ports in your computer, it's a big difference you can read and write easily 150 megabytes per second, with the USB 2.0 nothing above maybe 20 megabytes, having said that how often do you need to transfer large files from your phone to your computer..
Sent from my AWESOME NOTE 4

BiggieD said:
... helping a friend who wanted a solution to use his phone to do his job which requires moving files from a USB drive from a device to his phone to be emailed. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur with DarkShadow said. And in regards to your friend, the time difference between USB3 and USB2 for file size restriction for email attachments will be negligible; most email services only allow to around 5MB.
Unless you're moving files that a GBs in size, such a blu ray movie rip, it won't be bad. The only time I have issues, when I'm moving a lot files, such as when changing phones and I need to get a lot files off the microSD card to before placing it the new phone to format the card, and transfer the files back it. This is usually in the 20 to 35GB of data, and can take up to an hour on my PC. A USB3 on both the phone and PC would significantly reduce the time. But since this only occurs about once a year, not a major issue.
There are only a few files with Andriod applications that you may considering moving, copying, etc. Off the top of my head, and in my experience, is some of the extra data files such as the GTA games with the cut scenes. That files tends to be around 1.3GB.
So, the situation of time difference between USB3 vs USB2 is significant will be limited, unless you're one of those people who complains that it takes the PC a minute to boot because of it using HDD versus fifteen seconds because of SSD. Most likely, you biggest concern is using up all the space on the microSD.

Thanks for all the replies, I don't USB to 3.0 to my pc I do so to a 1tb harddrive.
And it is not often but I do use this function in my job roles as a network and system administrator. And it is not uncommon for me to have a few gigs of data and videos and pictures I move to that external hard drive.
@love nope I'm not one of "those people"
I deal with them daily.
Thanks to all for the information.
Sent from my SM-N900P using XDA Free mobile app

phone power
HI I have a note 4 I formatted a 2tb western digital to fat 32 and it works fine with a otg to a normal charge/ data cord to a hub. Then I power the hub and everything's is working fine and the hard drives getting adequate power and my phone battery last longer than hooked up but I'm having problems finding a way to keep my phone and hdd powered while using everything together. The otg seems to only put power out and wont let it in . Even with a otg "with power cord" with the extra male usb cord spliced in for apparent simultaneously charging/transfer . it still won't charge at the same time for me . I just wanted a self suffiencent setup where I could have power indefinetlatey on it all. Only thing I can think of is powering it thru the battery pack terminals somehow or using a mod threw where the battery is like a dummy bat that's just a direct power to the device or something .or even a real one with a mod that's charging it . I'm stumped if anyone has a idea let me kno
---------- Post added at 03:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:22 AM ----------
Maybe a wireless charging pad ? But I' don't know if it would keep up or is supported on a note 4

Cases With Access To MicroSD

Hi I recently purchased a Diztronic case but I'm finding it a bit annoying having to take the case off to get to the Micro SD tray I know I can use the USB C cable for file transfers but having compared speeds using a USB 3 card reader my overall transfer time reduced by 2.5 hours! So I would like to know if there's any good cases out there that has a cut out or flap for easy Micro SD access?

im just curious what are you transferring that takes over 2.5 hours?
When I do a full format and I throw my pictures and videos back onto my phone, over 6gb of data is moved with 2000+ files and it only takes about 10 minutes at most. I also have game emulators that together have over 10,000 files 7gb approximate size and that takes about 10 minutes also to move all those files.
Now the display on the pc will say 1 hour or something remaining but that's completely wrong if that's what your going off on your time (2.5 hours) and it'll be much, much shorter than that.
On my pc I use a A-C cable that USB-C 3.1 to USB 3.0 claims speeds up to 5gb/s on devices and my card is 128gb Samsung with 90mb write 95mb read.
I have not seen any cases that have access to the sd card unless you get a flip style one that's easy to take off or don't not attach to that area of the phone. I guess a cheap tpu case would work if you cut out the side.