FM radio on iPhone ??

Dublin Spur

this is the most frustrating thing about my iPhone !

The phone needs a strong 3G signal or Wi-Fi to pick up and maintain local FM radio (via various radio station Aps). You'd be listenining to something interesting on the radio on the bus home from work and then, out of the blue complete silence and 5 mins (buffering), its so head wrecking !!

My old non-smart phone (sony eriksen) had great FM coverage and never broke up on me. It's hard to believe with all it's cutting edge technology, that Apple have not addressed the simple issue of FM radio outside 3G or Wi-Fi zones. Suely a simple FM antena/receiver would solve everything.

Anyone know if a fix is available ?

Cheers

Zcott

There is no way there'll ever be an FM receiver in an iPhone. Best bet is a new carrier that has a decent 3G signal.

Cyrus

or podcasts!

or something like this:

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2010/07/15/griffin-ifm-radio-receiver-for-iphoneipod-review/

grizzly

How about something like this?

Creamy Goodness

currently unavailable, also requires you to have a 4S or below.

OP sorry but apple are quite quick to remove dead technology on their devices.

they first did it with floppies.
then they did it with cd drives.
then they did it with spinning hard drives.
then they did it with adobe flash.
you can see where i'm going :pac:

LukeS_

Just to clarify: You're not receiving that signal through FM, you're streaming/downloading audio from the app itself. If it's that big of an issue, just buy a very small cheap MP3 and use that for FM radio. Not the most practical, but it'd do the job.

It's not that Apple haven't got to it yet, it's that they don't want FM radio in their devices. They never have had it AFAIK, not even on their very first iPods.

LukeS_

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

currently unavailable, also requires you to have a 4S or below.

OP sorry but apple are quite quick to remove dead technology on their devices.

they first did it with floppies.
then they did it with cd drives.
then they did it with spinning hard drives.
then they did it with adobe flash.
you can see where i'm going :pac:

FM is far from "dead technology". :rolleyes:

TheBoffin

There are various attachments for iphone that claim to have a FM receiver built into them, perhaps this is the best option.

Not sure if this is for your car or walking about.

I use my iphone for listening to internet radio in the car. I have an iphone 5 which supports network multipath meaning it can use both the 3G and Wifi combined to select the best option for connectivity.

The phone itself is on Three Ireland and I have a separate modem in the boot of the car with roof mount antenna which is on the emobile network that shares out via wifi

I have very good coverage on all of my routes so far, i use it with the TuneIn pro app and the belkin clear scan connector. The Tune In app allows you to set the buffer and auto re-connect options to your own settings.

Creamy Goodness

LukeS_ wrote: »

FM is far from "dead technology". :rolleyes:

explain why it isn't? it's been superseded by digital radio and more practical and higher quality methods of transmission have come up since FM's inception.

In apple's world FM was dead before CD drives were.

TheBoffin

explain why it isn't? it's been superseded by digital radio and more practical and higher quality methods of transmission have come up since FM's inception

Try tell the BAI that one

scruffmonkey

LukeS_ wrote: »

It's not that Apple haven't got to it yet, it's that they don't want FM radio in their devices. They never have had it AFAIK, not even on their very first iPods.

The Nanos have fm

Piliger

Dublin Spur wrote: »

this is the most frustrating thing about my iPhone !

The phone needs a strong 3G signal or Wi-Fi to pick up and maintain local FM radio (via various radio station Aps). You'd be listenining to something interesting on the radio on the bus home from work and then, out of the blue complete silence and 5 mins (buffering), its so head wrecking !!

My old non-smart phone (sony eriksen) had great FM coverage and never broke up on me. It's hard to believe with all it's cutting edge technology, that Apple have not addressed the simple issue of FM radio outside 3G or Wi-Fi zones. Suely a simple FM antena/receiver would solve everything.

Anyone know if a fix is available ?

Cheers

A fix ? Get an FM radio of some sort I guess.

I am delighted that Apple have never given in to the demands to include retrograde tech in iPhones. The iPhone is about leading edge tech. All of my iPhone radio apps give me access to radio from all over the world. And if I want to listen, I find a wifi point.

sparksfly

Leading edge tech is not worth a crap when the function that you want is missing.
FM is the only stable mobile radio option while there is only a half assed 3g coverage in this country. Carrying around a second device when you have already paid dearly for an Iphone is rubbish.
I ditched the Iphone for the Nokia Lumia 820 which has a great FM radio. Use it loads and love it.

JDxtra

There is no FM radio on most Apple devices for a reason. Is not because it's old tech, it's because it encourages you to load your device with more content - with the hope of some of this being purchased from their Apple Store.

FM radio is not revenue generating, so it's bye bye.

Samsung are doing the same now, I don't think any of their LTE handsets have FM radios. It's something I missed a lot when I went from a Nokia N86 to an iPhone 4 but I don't listen to anywhere near as much radio now anymore.

I don't agree with the "FM is dead technology" bit - DAB is not a worthy successor because of poor coverage and sound quality that is actually worse than a good FM signal.

Piliger

sparksfly wrote: »

Leading edge tech is not worth a crap when the function that you want is missing.

Only when the function you want is 20th century old hat tech.

FM is the only stable mobile radio option while there is only a half assed 3g coverage in this country. Carrying around a second device when you have already paid dearly for an Iphone is rubbish.

Hence why I don't do it.

I ditched the Iphone for the Nokia Lumia 820 which has a great FM radio. Use it loads and love it.

Sounds like it is pitched at the perfect audience.

Dublin Spur

Piliger wrote: »

A fix ? Get an FM radio of some sort I guess.

I am delighted that Apple have never given in to the demands to include retrograde tech in iPhones. The iPhone is about leading edge tech. All of my iPhone radio apps give me access to radio from all over the world. And if I want to listen, I find a wifi point.

Difficult to find a wi0fi point on the Bus

It seems to me that Apple have ignored a flaw in their product, it's such an obvious gap.

10 years ago you could listen to local radio stations through mobile phones,easy peasy.

Now 10 years on - it's just an inconsistant mess with the iphone.
Yeah I know it really down to the 3G signal, but the bottom line is that millions of Apple customers must be a little pissed off with the inconsistancy of the App method of listening to radio. It's just very very annoying.

Zcott

Dublin Spur wrote: »

It seems to me that Apple have ignored a flaw in their product, it's such an obvious gap.
[snip]
millions of Apple customers must be a little pissed off with the inconsistancy of the App method of listening to radio.

Well now I doubt there's millions of people wanting an FM radio in their iPhones. TuneIn works fine for me.

Piliger

Dublin Spur wrote: »

but the bottom line is that millions of Apple customers must be a little pissed off with the inconsistancy of the App method of listening to radio. It's just very very annoying.

Yet however pissed you may be .... there is no evidence of any unhappiness among iPhone users. Excepting yourself and a few others of course.

copacetic

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

explain why it isn't? it's been superseded by digital radio and more practical and higher quality methods of transmission have come up since FM's inception.

In apple's world FM was dead before CD drives were.

That's rubbish tbh, fm radio is going nowhere for another 20 or 30 years at least and apple have supported it on the nanos.

They don't provide it as they know loads of people would use it.

I know loads of people with iphones who would prefer a simple radio built in then have to use an unreliable network service and waste piles of data just to listen to radio on a commute. They love without it or carry a little radio because they have no option and want the iPhone for it's other benefits.

Piliger

copacetic wrote: »

They don't provide it as they know loads of people would use it.

Bizarre post of the week.

copacetic

copacetic wrote: »

That's rubbish tbh, fm radio is going nowhere for another 20 or 30 years at least and apple have supported it on the nanos.

They don't provide it as they know loads of people would use it.

I know loads of people with iphones who would prefer a simple radio built in then have to use an unreliable network service and waste piles of data just to listen to radio on a commute. They love without it or carry a little radio because they have no option and want the iPhone for it's other benefits.

Exactly. Radio apps are great for listening to radio stations that are normally out of reach but if I had the choice, I wouldn't use them for local stations. While EDGE or 3G works for radio streaming, it's not the most efficent way. It eats battery power whereas a simple FM radio chip uses very little power.

I once read that the iPhone 4 actually had FM radio hardware inside it but it's either disabled in the OS or not physically wired up. The Broadcom Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip also supports FM reception and transmission but Apple chose not to implement it.

Piliger

Piliger wrote: »

Bizarre post of the week.

Not really. People using FM radio means less potential revenue for the iTunes store, simple.

LionelNashe

Dublin Spur wrote: »

this is the most frustrating thing about my iPhone !

The phone needs a strong 3G signal or Wi-Fi to pick up and maintain local FM radio (via various radio station Aps). You'd be listenining to something interesting on the radio on the bus home from work and then, out of the blue complete silence and 5 mins (buffering), its so head wrecking !!

My old non-smart phone (sony eriksen) had great FM coverage and never broke up on me. It's hard to believe with all it's cutting edge technology, that Apple have not addressed the simple issue of FM radio outside 3G or Wi-Fi zones. Suely a simple FM antena/receiver would solve everything.

Anyone know if a fix is available ?

Cheers

I agree - I have a phone that is paid for by work, but if it was my own phone I wouldn't be happy to pay for the data needed to listen to the radio. The FM radios on my old Nokia phones were perfect.

Some apps are better than others. I gave up on the Newstalk app completely becuse of buffering issues, and use the TuneIn Radio app instead (to listen to Newstalk). And failing that, Podcasts (Jeff Garlin, Michael Ian Black, Marc Maron, Gutterballs)

SpaceTime

Yeah, it's definitely down to revenue streams for iTunes.

Apple's really got no interest in adding an extra antenna or chip for FM radio as they make no money out of it and you should be using their cool, hip and trendy iTunes services instead and giving them money!

FM radio's far from dead and it's a cheap, practical way of delivering very high quality sound to a device that needs almost no technology at all to listen to it.

Digital radio's really had very little impact at all and it's a very flawed technology in many ways. Analogue FM radio remains the absolute king of the airwaves when it comes to audio broadcasting and I think it's going to be around for a long time yet.

Digital TV made perfect sense : better pictures, more channels, better sound when compared to its analogue predecessors.
Digital radio however, didn't really give consumers any amazing choices and broadcasters don't like it because it increased competition and costs. When consumers want more choice these days they tend to turn to online radio and podcasts.

Also, digital radio receivers remain expensive and bulky because there has been so little adoption that manufactures haven't really tried very hard.

Where as FM receivers are dirt cheap, simple technology that uses extremely little power!
FM's old tech, but it's very, very effective at what it does and produces sound that often surpasses DAB broadcasts as in most cases DAB's squeezed into low bit rate streams that sound rubbish. It's not known as the Diabolical Audio Broadcasting system for nothing!

SpaceTime

One more point though :

It doesn't make a lot of sense anymore as Apple's already got loads of competition on the iOS platform from Spotify, Deezer, TuneIn Radio and even YouTube to name but a few.

I don't think the iTunes revenues are anything like they predicted.

I seem to spend most of my time using Spotify these days.

copacetic

Piliger wrote: »

Bizarre post of the week.

Jeez thanks, maybe have even a little think there and you might understand it.

Rambo

The new A7 chip has a built in FM radio but apple will never release code for it.

http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/24/chipworks-analysis-of-iphone-5s-a7-and-m7-chips-highlights-apple/

and another thing the A7 chip is made by Samsung LOL

Dublin Spur

still amazes me that Apple would not waht their devise to do as many things as possible

this would be such an easy thing to add and would close off a silly annoying gap

their iphone does less than 10 year old mobile phones in this area, it's quite sad really

SpaceTime

The other very annoying feature of the iPhone that puts me off it entirely is the fact that it will not let you turn off the fake tone dialing noise the dialler keypad makes. The only way to shut it up is to silence the whole phone!

I would assume the radio chip is generic so they would probably have an FM capability built in. It's probably more difficult for the manufacture to remove the capability than to just ignore it in software.

Just because the chip can do it doesn't mean the software or the antenna system can handle FM radio.

Creamy Goodness

Rambo wrote: »

The new A7 chip has a built in FM radio but apple will never release code for it.

http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/24/chipworks-analysis-of-iphone-5s-a7-and-m7-chips-highlights-apple/

and another thing the A7 chip is made by Samsung LOL

all apple's SoC (system on a chip) have been made by samsung. they've also made the ram, the memory and the screens of iPhones before. There are 2 companies in the entire world who can make components to the build quality that apple require and secondly to the sheer volume they require.

Dublin Spur wrote: »

still amazes me that Apple would not waht their devise to do as many things as possible

this would be such an easy thing to add and would close off a silly annoying gap

apple has always been about the user experience how everything works together. they take the approach of "doing a few things right, rather than cramming every 'feature' into the phone. Apple have the perfect balance between their hardware and software, everything just works (i know that's a cliche). If you want to see what an iPhone is like with every possible feature look at the samsung galaxy s4, which surpassingly enough has every feature a consumer could possibly want (not want) and samsung have publicly said their software needs work - http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/6/5071994/samsung-analyst-day-2013-software-investment

Dublin Spur wrote: »

their iphone does less than 10 year old mobile phones in this area, it's quite sad really

you really aren't comparing the iPhone to the flagship phone of 2003 are you? I had this phone and christ it's awful compared to the iPhone.



also just because a phone of 10 years ago had a feature you want doesn't mean that 10 years time tech needs it. Now if you'd excuse me I'm going to the store to buy a blu-ray player with a VCR attached to it.

Dublin Spur

Just to clarify:

I said that the iphone does less in "this area" (FM access) then 10 year old moblie phones

The feature is still clearly needed (in Ireland anyway) otherwise I wouldn't have constantly broken very annoying radio coverage

Having an FM receiver on the iphone would be a great plan B when the App method is not working well

It would be nice to have the option and it's a little annoying that I don't, that's all

SpaceTime

No 3G/4G network I've used anywhere is able to deliver totally reliable mobile streaming without dropping out now and then.

From my own experience if Irish, UK, French, Belgian and US mobile networks, the major Irish ones are top notch!

I've never tried streaming in Canada because the data rates are insanely expensive due to lack of competition.

Ireland's data rates are very reasonable by most comparisons.

Mobile data isn't intended to be a replacement for FM broadcasting. If everyone were to stream radio individually it uses vastly more radio spectrum than one FM signal being passively received by millions of radios.

Each connection to an internet radio server is a separate IP stream.

For a mobile network to handle IP radio and IP television efficiently you would need to design it to do multicasting and integrate the streaming services into the network much more deeply. That's how eircom for example deliver IP television over efibre without choking up.

Streaming content to your phone also uses much, much more battery power than passively listening to FM broadcasts.

seamus

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

explain why it isn't? it's been superseded by digital radio and more practical and higher quality methods of transmission have come up since FM's inception.

Real-time broadcasting.

It was pointed out to me before, but web streaming doesn't even come close to FM in terms of latency and won't for the foreseeable future.

If you're watching a live event and listening to radio (like many people do), web streams are so delayed as to be useless. At present the latency in web streams can be anything from 500ms to 15 seconds.

I asked the same question btw in relation to DAB, and got the same answer; DAB still suffers quite badly from latency. Plus in Ireland there's very little good reason to switch to DAB, since FM serves our requirements just fine. Until the latency in digital falls consistently below 250ms from broadcaster to receiver, FM radio will remain alive and well.

On the OP's question, I talk about this every chance I get:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson-MW-600-Bluetooth-Headphones/dp/B0038M3H4S

Bluetooth headphones with built-in FM radio. Essentially like having an iPhone with FM radio. I love them.

DubDJ

I don't think Apple left an FM Radio out of the iPhone due to it harming their iTunes sales, I'd more so believe it was down to it being a feature most people aren't too bothered with, there being only a small market of iPhone users that would really appreciate it.

You have to remember Apple are a hardware company and they make most of their profit through selling devices themselves not the software or services that come with them. The few services they do offer, iTunes Store for example, do bring in a lot of money but that's nothing compared to the profit they make with each iDevice or Mac they sell.

I can't imagine it would hurt iTunes sales too much at all, they could probably intergrate it into the radio service and let people purchase the music directly from the radio app, similar to how they do it with iTunes Radio. That could be a potential increase in profit, which I'd say would more than pay for the hassle of implementing an FM radio.

Again I'd say it's more down to too few users wanting it and Apple seeing it as a problem for few people, especially with the many apps in the AppStore offing some type of alternative.

cgarrad

DubDJ wrote: »

I don't think Apple left an FM Radio out of the iPhone due to it harming their iTunes sales, I'd more so believe it was down to it being a feature most people aren't too bothered with, there being only a small market of iPhone users that would really appreciate it.

You have to remember Apple are a hardware company and they make most of their profit through selling devices themselves not the software or services that come with them. The few services they do offer, iTunes Store for example, do bring in a lot of money but that's nothing compared to the profit they make with each iDevice or Mac they sell.

I can't imagine it would hurt iTunes sales too much at all, they could probably intergrate it into the radio service and let people purchase the music directly from the radio app, similar to how they do it with iTunes Radio. That could be a potential increase in profit, which I'd say would more than pay for the hassle of implementing an FM radio.

Again I'd say it's more down to too few users wanting it and Apple seeing it as a problem for few people, especially with the many apps in the AppStore offing some type of alternative.

The phone has the hardware already in it, granted no aerial but if you think its anything other than protecting revenue streams you are in the territory if iSheep.

DubDJ

cgarrad wrote: »

The phone has the hardware already in it, granted no aerial but if you think its anything other than protecting revenue streams you are in the territory if iSheep.

iSheep? Really, how old are you 12?

Apple offer an FM Radio with the iPod nano, that's it 'Apple are doomed'

They'd probably have to compromise on design, e.g. thickness to implement an aerial for the FM Radio which to a company which prides itself on how thin their devices are really wouldn't make sense to make a small few users happy. So again I disagree that its down to iTunes revenue, as I said it could result in more purchases, the way they implemented iTunes Radio. Another point is they offer this service which they have to pay labels for and offer it for free to customers, how would an FM radio differ in hurting iTunes sales?

DubDJ

DubDJ wrote: »

They'd probably have to compromise on design, e.g. thickness to implement an aerial for the FM Radio which to a company which prides itself on how thin their devices are really wouldn't make sense to make a small few users happy.

Pretty much any personal FM radio uses the headphone cable as the aerial so it shouldn't impact on the thickness much to wire it up, if at all.

SpaceTime

The other issue is Apple tends to design with the US market only in mind sometimes. FM radio in the states isn't worth the hassle sometimes and Americans were very quick to shift towards downloaded DJ-free iPods.

Piliger

DubDJ wrote: »

iSheep? Really, how old are you 12?

Apple offer an FM Radio with the iPod nano, that's it 'Apple are doomed'

They'd probably have to compromise on design, e.g. thickness to implement an aerial for the FM Radio which to a company which prides itself on how thin their devices are really wouldn't make sense to make a small few users happy. So again I disagree that its down to iTunes revenue, as I said it could result in more purchases, the way they implemented iTunes Radio. Another point is they offer this service which they have to pay labels for and offer it for free to customers, how would an FM radio differ in hurting iTunes sales?

FM is 20th century - old hat - boring - retro crap. Apple dumped Flash, rightly, and they dumped the old connection port when it ran out of steam. Apple is about tomorrow people ... not boring yesterday people.

Piliger

Piliger wrote: »

FM is 20th century - old hat - boring - retro crap. Apple dumped Flash, rightly, and they dumped the old connection port when it ran out of steam. Apple is about tomorrow people ... not boring yesterday people.

I don't see an 802.11ac radio in the iPhone 5s...

Piliger

Karsini wrote: »

I don't see an 802.11ac radio in the iPhone 5s...

Any radio app will get thousands of internet radio channels. I listen to a brilliant range of them on my 5.

Piliger

Piliger wrote: »

Any radio app will get thousands of internet radio channels. I listen to a brilliant range of them on my 5.

Yes but as already mentioned, it's not the most efficient way of doing so, it eats battery power and uses up more radio spectrum. Perfectly fine if you're listening to an out of range station but not fine if you're trying to pick up 98FM or Q102 in Dublin.

I don't believe that Apple are about the future when they use previous generation hardware in their devices.

Skatedude

Remember, only people on bill pay can get streaming radio. people on pay as you go cant so need an fm tuner. android can easily do it so apple can if they wanted to.

And digital radio is only available in a few countries. hundreds of countries and many millions of cars use fm

Piliger

Skatedude wrote: »

Remember, only people on bill pay can get streaming radio.

I don't believe this is true ... I am on PAYG with 48 and have no trouble streaming radio.

As I speak I have WunderRadio streaming BBC4 on 3G and with only 3 dots on my 3G reception. No breaks, no problems. Yesterday I was listening to Aussie radio.

Also apps like TuneIn allow the buffer to be increased in case of poor reception.

And digital radio is only available in a few countries. hundreds of countries and many millions of cars use fm

Almost every FM station is also available on digital streaming.

scruffmonkey

Could it simply be a case that they've decided that they don't want to support FM for the reason that it's a battery drain that they cannot predict?

SpaceTime

scruffmonkey wrote: »

Could it simply be a case that they've decided that they don't want to support FM for the reason that it's a battery drain that they cannot predict?

Battery drain on FM radio is entirely predictable as it's very simple passive analogue signal reception. It's also absolutely tiny amount of power and processing power relative to almost any other phone function. Bear in mind that a simple FM radio could run for several weeks on a pair of AA batteries with headphones.

Dades

Piliger wrote: »

As I speak I have WunderRadio streaming BBC4 on 3G and with only 3 dots on my 3G reception. No breaks, no problems. Yesterday I was listening to Aussie radio.

Also apps like TuneIn allow the buffer to be increased in case of poor reception.

While it's simply wonderful you enjoy your internet radio and awesome reception everywhere, I'm not entirely sure why you rage against an older tech that would be the simplest and best solution for many radio listeners. Did a large wireless fall on you as a child?

The iPhone alternatives to FM radio are simply not effective alternatives for many people.

Poor internet radio experience has driven me into the arms of iTunes and podcasts which is why I personally believe the lack of an FM Radio is a strategic decision by Apple rather than a technical one.

Piliger

Dades wrote: »

While it's simply wonderful you enjoy your internet radio and awesome reception everywhere, I'm not entirely sure why you rage against an older tech that would be the simplest and best solution for many radio listeners. Did a large wireless fall on you as a child?

The iPhone alternatives to FM radio are simply not effective alternatives for many people.

Poor internet radio experience has driven me into the arms of iTunes and podcasts which is why I personally believe the lack of an FM Radio is a strategic decision by Apple rather than a technical one.

Your rage against Apple is boring and only a tiny tiny minority of people around the world want to have FM on their iPhones. If you want FM that much why on earth are you still using an iPhone ? the iPhone is about today's and tomorrow's tech and not old hat yesterday's tech. Move on. if you are located in a black spot for 3G then that is hardly Apple's problem. I have no problem around Dublin.

lertsnim

FM is dead? I can only get RTE services on DAB here. So to say FM is dead is very short sighted.

Dades

I'm guessing it was a really big wireless radio, Piliger.