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

Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by bfg on Friday April 17, 2015 @02:30PM (#9396222)

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?

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Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by cbhl on Friday April 17, 2015 @02:54PM (#9396403)

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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Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by seba_dos1 on Friday April 17, 2015 @05:14PM (#9397232)

>which confuses users

So users are why we can't have nice things.

Also, on Nokia N900 they simply didn't do an app at all. Lots of them were quickly written by community and everyone was happy.

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Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by nine_k on Friday April 17, 2015 @02:40PM (#9396290)

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.

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Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by wongarsu on Friday April 17, 2015 @02:52PM (#9396376)

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

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Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by nine_k on Friday April 17, 2015 @02:56PM (#9396418)

Don't they have huge arrangements for their devices with mobile carriers worldwide?

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Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by marpstar on Friday April 17, 2015 @02:37PM (#9396279)

If you can get FM radio on your phone, you'll buy fewer iTunes.

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Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by jjtheblunt on Friday April 17, 2015 @02:48PM (#9396346)

Running any circuits within the constrained space of a cellphone risks (i.e., definitely does) cause RF interference with the antenna(s) listening to cell towers , which is a huge engineering challenge.

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Re:The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it by r00fus on Friday April 17, 2015 @02:56PM (#9396414)

Maybe because the quality sucks? I mean, if you had TV on your phone but could only get 3 channels and they all had static, who would the customer blame that it doesn't work?

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