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The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

npr.org

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Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#41

Post by rcthompson »

Marcus10110 wrote: post #26

I would argue that analog FM radio has a pretty bad user experience, and I completely understand a manufacturer not including it because of that. The audio quality is usually poor, it's location and environment sensitive, and the system for distributing and the RDS text is slow to update, and often incomplete.

I generally agree with you that FM radio is not a very good user experience (except during emergencies, when it suddenly becomes incredibly useful). But that doesn't mean I get to tell other people whether they want it or not. Enabling the FM radio tuner chip doesn't have to affect the user experience at all for users who don't want to use it. The carrier doesn't have to include an FM radio app pre-installed. Users who want FM radio can install an app for it.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#42

Post by ethbro »

Marcus10110 wrote: post #26

I would argue that analog FM radio has a pretty bad user experience, and I completely understand a manufacturer not including it because of that. The audio quality is usually poor, it's location and environment sensitive, and the system for distributing and the RDS text is slow to update, and often incomplete.

I would counter-argue that if there's an FM receiver in your phone, there's no reason you should be listening to analog FM radio. I can't imagine they wouldn't also support modern digital FM signals.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#43

Post by wongarsu »

nine_k wrote: post #31
bfg wrote: post #21

What's the downside of turning this on? From the article it just seems like it would mean more capabilities, more consumer choice. Is the only "downside" that it allows you to bypass cell networks when getting content?

You'll pay less for data traffic; this directly affects your mobile bill. You'll listen to the radio ads instead of the streaming services' ads; mobile carriers may have special ad-revenue arrangements with such services.

That explains why Apple disables it, but why would Samsung and LG care? To my knowledge they neither sell data traffic nor streaming services?

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#44

Post by wtallis »

kevinskii wrote: post #18
nostromo wrote: post #10

This is poor journalism, particularly coming from NPR. The NAB (including NPR) are lobbying to force all phones to include an FM radio. Since they can't say, "we want this to increase our ad revenue," they're using the tried and true, "it's a must for national security" approach. They've previously tried to get language added to Homeland Security bills that would force phone manufacturers to include radios. Besides,…

There's a difference between including an FM radio and simply turning on a pre-existing one via a software update, which apparently is possible on at least some phone models. And regardless of NPR's motives, their "it's needed for emergencies" argument is a pretty good one.

And selling hardware that's been crippled in some way always makes people uncomfortable. Whether it's an FM tuner being turned off, tethering being blocked, CPU features turned off, or whatever, manufacturing a working product and then selling it in a less-working state is worrisome and shouldn't be automatically considered acceptable. It's a strong indicator of a possible market failure and a sure sign that the consumer's ownership rights have been compromised.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#45

Post by ceejayoz »

sospep wrote: post #30

As always, no mention of Blackberry, who do have FM radios on several of their current models including Passport, Leap, Classic and Z30.

For about the same reasons my blog doesn't show up in "check out this new internet trend!" articles.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#46

Post by ewzimm »

tdicola wrote: post #24
leejoramo wrote: post #7

Even if the chip supports FM, does the phone have an FM antenna? I seem to remember that my old pre-MP3 devices used the headphone cable as the antenna. Would it be easy to have good reception in a smartphone without using a headphone cable? Given how I use my smartphone using Bluetooth speakers for music and seldom headphones, I doubt that the FM chip would work for me. (And if I did often use headsets, I would get…

Yeah I don't think most phones have an FM antenna. All of the phones I've seen that expose FM radio end up using the headphones that are plugged in as the antenna. This means you have to use headphones, which is a bit of an annoyance when you want to stream music to a bluetooth speaker or even just use the phone's internal speaker.

You only have to have headphones plugged in. At least the Windows Phone radio app has software switch for where you want the audio output to go. You can plug in headphones and play on the speaker. If other radio apps don't have this, it would be easy to add.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#48

Post by surge »

kevinskii wrote: post #18
nostromo wrote: post #10

This is poor journalism, particularly coming from NPR. The NAB (including NPR) are lobbying to force all phones to include an FM radio. Since they can't say, "we want this to increase our ad revenue," they're using the tried and true, "it's a must for national security" approach. They've previously tried to get language added to Homeland Security bills that would force phone manufacturers to include radios. Besides,…

There's a difference between including an FM radio and simply turning on a pre-existing one via a software update, which apparently is possible on at least some phone models. And regardless of NPR's motives, their "it's needed for emergencies" argument is a pretty good one.

Text broadcasts are just as effective.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#49

Post by [deleted] »

anigbrowl wrote: post #27
kevinskii wrote: post #9

But Jot Carpenter, vice president of government affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, resists the move to turn on the FM chip..."What Americans really want is the ability to stream, download and customize music playlists to meet their personal preferences," Carpenter said... I wonder if the people whose job it is to make these sorts of patronizing arguments privately feel embarrassed when doing so.

I was so irritated that I sent a polite but snippy email to his lobbying agency, before deciding it would be more effective to repost it here (it was posted earlier today but largely ignored). No, I don't think they feel embarrassed at all. This the human-level equivalent of promulgating botnets, and involves a similar principle - that if people are too passive to harden their systems against such obviously lame expl…

[deleted]

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#50

Post by cbhl »

bfg wrote: post #21

What's the downside of turning this on? From the article it just seems like it would mean more capabilities, more consumer choice. Is the only "downside" that it allows you to bypass cell networks when getting content?

It only works if there are headphones attached, which confuses users.

Plus, Google or another company has to pay an engineer to write an app for it, and test it against the hardware in the phones, etc. etc.

Usually this functionality is a byproduct of some random other chip on the phone that is multifunction, usually Bluetooth. So people who don't use Bluetooth get confused/upset/paranoid/tin foil hat when their FM Radio app tells them that Bluetooth needs to be enabled to use it.

Many users who really want FM can already do it today, but it involves rooting their phone and installing something like Cyanogenmod.

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