A great many games today have smartphones as the computers/platforms running those games. Due to the small physical size of the screen, either a large game-play image has to be shrunk (can do because some of those srcreens have huge numbers of miniscule pixels), leading to difficulty in precisely clicking hot-spots on the image, or the image has to be expanded such that lots of scrolling is necessary, to reach all the different clickable hotspots on the overall game-play image.

But if the smartphone had a couple extra ports, like a monitor port and a mouse port, you could hook it up to a nice large external monitor and ordinary computer mouse, thereby solving both of the above problems. That is, the large game-play image could be displayed on the large screen, and the mouse would give you precise access to all the clickable hotspots.

In using this Idea, you probably would also want to plug in the smartphone's external power-source cord, but lots of folks do that already when playing a game for an extended time near a wall with a power-outlet.
-- Vernon, May 01 2016

MHL http://www.mhltech.org/consumer.aspx
"Mobile High-definition Link" --as mentioned in a couple annotations. [Vernon, May 01 2016]

Superbook http://getsuperbook.com/
One of several designs of Android docking laptop shell. [tatterdemalion, May 02 2016]

[+]. I suspect that this can be done already, but will probably require stupidly expensive adaptors specific to each phone. Now that everything except actual intercourse can be done via USB, there's no real excuse for smartphones not having this facility*.

[*i.e., USB connectivity, not intercourse]
-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 01 2016


// everything except actual intercourse can be done via USB //

You haven't read the draft specification for USB 4.0, then ?
-- 8th of 7, May 01 2016


I had not known about MHL. So, this Idea is mostly baked already, but, apparently, not widely known-about. (Per the link I added, an MHL connection may be able to supply power to the smartphone, eliminating an extra wire- connection.) Ah, well. Perhaps the NotWKTE thing will save it from the dreaded MFD. To be determined....
-- Vernon, May 01 2016


//draft specification for USB 4.0, then// I believe 4.0 can handle basic foreplay and oral sex, but not actual penetration. Apparently the White House are beta-testing it.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 01 2016


This would actually be quite handy as USB Type-C becomes common, since with USB Type-C you could easily plug your keyboard to the phone without an adaptor.
-- mofosyne, May 02 2016


<luddite>recently lost my cheap and nasty android smartphone in London and...quite frankly glad to see the back of it.

Sure you can use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and output to a MHL monitor. Why do I have to go and buy all that stuff just to do things, and the smartphone OS is a big pile of poo. Going back to cheap and nasty phone and linux laptop.</luddite>
-- not_morrison_rm, May 03 2016


"<luddite>" disputed. Phones aren't laptops, and never can be.
-- 8th of 7, May 03 2016


I misread the title as "Extra Smartphone Pants" - so, if you misplace your smartphone, you can extract a back-up smartphone from a safe place in your pants ('pants' with a US or UK English meaning).
-- hippo, May 03 2016


And if you suffer from an iphoney, you could extract a device that is pants from your pants - two for the price of one.
-- 8th of 7, May 03 2016



random, halfbakery