Big Electro Companies Won't Let your Cell Device Play FM Radio

(I have to think this has been posted/discussed before, but I don't see one, so...)

most smart phones and similar devices have chips that make them capable of playing (local) FM radio, but the manufactrs turn the chips off.
(...so why put them in, in the first place?)

www.npr.org...

***You may not know it but most of today's smartphones have FM radios inside of them. But the FM chip is not activated on two-thirds of devices. That's because mobile makers have the FM capability switched off.
The National Association of Broadcasters has been asking mobile makers to change this. But the mobile industry, which profits from selling data to smartphone users, says that with the consumer's move toward mobile streaming apps, the demand for radio simply isn't there.***

so any crafty techie types know how to get around this? or can we get our service people to do it?

I thought it was to do with the aerials, radio requires a bigger one or somthing due to the wavelength (1800mhz for 4g vs like 100mhz for fm radio)?

So the reception with the phones aerial not being very good at it, or somthing.

Im totally not sure about this but somthing i remember was enough to make a post in that general direction.

originally posted by: Biigs
I thought it was to do with the aerials, radio requires a bigger one or somthing due to the wavelength (1800mhz for 4g vs like 100mhz for fm radio)?

So the reception with the phones aerial not being very good at it, or somthing.

Im totally not sure about this but somthing i remember was enough to make a post in that general direction.

The chips get very good reception.

My phone gets better reception than my car radio.

I heard a couple of commercials while listening to mine at work.

It mentioned there are ways around this, but can't remember what they were.

They are available in the net.

a reply to: works4dhs

Why give you for free what a corp can shake you down for right?

Pos corps.

Greed, pure, unadulterated greed, that is the cause, them turning them off is the effect.

a reply to: works4dhs

Not a surprise they disable and cripple OS features all the time.

However who would actually want to listen to fm radio when their are so many other limited and free commercial apps that allow you to stream music and or shows.

Every time i turn on the radio once in a blue moon in my car, i immediately say " oh right that is why i stopped listening to it."

Radio better start thinking about its future business model as it becomes easier and more reliable to be always comnected. They need to cut down on commercial and make a better product if they ever want me to go back

a reply to: works4dhs
Well I've never heard of one being switched off. Now you have to plug earphones in to act as an ariel which makes the use of the radio rather limited. Especially when you compare that to the ability of an internet radio with every channel known to man !!!! and playable through your phone speaker or bluetooth in your car or computer.

Steaming music and or movies / shows eats up the available data you have on your data plan, if you are not connected to WiFi. If you are not careful you will go over your data limit and have to pay more money. This may even cause people to want to increase their data plan which will cost more.

FM Radio is free, and if it was available on smartphones, I think people would switch to FM radio if they are not on a WiFi network, to avoid going over their data limit.

Seems like a money grab by cellphone service providers.

---

I see a few posts already praising "streaming music" and "internet radio", and not even mentioning that it will cost you data / money. That is what they want you to do, forget about the data you are eating up.

originally posted by: yorkshirelad
a reply to: works4dhs
Well I've never heard of one being switched off. Now you have to plug earphones in to act as an ariel which makes the use of the radio rather limited. Especially when you compare that to the ability of an internet radio with every channel known to man !!!! and playable through your phone speaker or bluetooth in your car or computer.

On my phone, Sharp Aquos, you can switch it to phone speaker after you plug in earpieces.

You may be able to root the phone and download a third party app to turn this on

a reply to: works4dhs

"Norway is going to eliminate FM radio in less than two years, the country's government announced, becoming the first country in the world to do so. Norway is planning to transition completely to digital broadcasting in January 2017.... Digital radio is much less vulnerable to transmitter failure in extreme conditions, the Norwegian government said, which adds to the emergency preparedness appeal."

www.npr.org...

Is there an unseen hand or conspiracy at work here???

a reply to: WeAre0ne

Always follow the money

originally posted by: works4dhs
(I have to think this has been posted/discussed before, but I don't see one, so...)

most smart phones and similar devices have chips that make them capable of playing (local) FM radio, but the manufactrs turn the chips off.
(...so why put them in, in the first place?)

www.npr.org...

***You may not know it but most of today's smartphones have FM radios inside of them. But the FM chip is not activated on two-thirds of devices. That's because mobile makers have the FM capability switched off.
The National Association of Broadcasters has been asking mobile makers to change this. But the mobile industry, which profits from selling data to smartphone users, says that with the consumer's move toward mobile streaming apps, the demand for radio simply isn't there.***

so any crafty techie types know how to get around this? or can we get our service people to do it?

Nobody addressed one of the questions in the OP. Why put the capability in the phone just to disable it. Me, I don't have any idea, but it is curious.

a reply to: bringmecoffee

Because you need to have headphones in to get good reception! If you dont have the option to use the radio, you cant complain about bad reception!

Sort of an answer right?

originally posted by: bringmecoffee
Nobody addressed one of the questions in the OP. Why put the capability in the phone just to disable it. Me, I don't have any idea, but it is curious.

It's easy to add this to the receiver part of the phone, so the chip maker puts it in there. The phone manufacturer has to implement the software and possibly a little extra hardware to make it go. They don't think you want it, and generally you have to have the ear plug plugged in to make it work.

So the manufacturer's view of it is something like -

1) this is a marginally useful feature
2) our users are going to be confused by the thing not working if the headphones aren't plugged in
3) if they try to use it and it doesn't work then we'll get complaints about it
4) dealing with complaints and pissed off people will be more trouble than just not implementing it
5) therefore it has a negative value to us as a company to implement

There are generally a lot of things in any complicated system-on-a-chip, some are useful, others not, and it's rare to see any manufacturer implement every feature a part can provide. It's not a conspiracy, it's a business case.

a reply to: works4dhs

We could transmit data via FM that is why the greedy bastards don't want it done. Also we could communicate with each other using FM tech, however the distance would not be so great, but still greed is the main reason for this.

a reply to: Biigs

Most mobiles use your earphone wire as an Arial if im not mistaken, that's why you cannot listen to radio without the earphones in place, even if you select speaker mode.

a reply to: Bedlam
Makes sense. Thanks!

Every cellphone I've had in the last 10 years or more has had the FM radio option available and enabled but, as posted earlier, only when the headphones are connected to provide the antenna. The only time I ever used the radio was simply to see if it worked and perhaps that is the reason some manufacturers no longer enable it at all - people just don't use it as they can now browse the net and receive emails, twitter etc on their phones without needing to carry earphones.

originally posted by: bitsforbytes
a reply to: works4dhs

We could transmit data via FM that is why the greedy bastards don't want it done. Also we could communicate with each other using FM tech, however the distance would not be so great, but still greed is the main reason for this.

FM is just another modulation technique out of many. It's not magical or unique.

a reply to: WeAre0ne

I see a few posts already praising "streaming music" and "internet radio", and not even mentioning that it will cost you data / money.

Not sure about other carriers, but not too long ago T-Mobile switched it so streaming music doesn't count against your data. Always have the option of switching carriers to one who offers what, or at least more/better, of what you want.

www.t-mobile.com...