Samsung Becomes Latest Phone Manufacturer to Unlock the FM Chip

Megalith

Megalith

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According to NextRadio, Samsung’s smartphones will have functioning FM chips going forward. Many manufacturers have locked down their handsets so they can’t receive FM radio signals, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, as radio apps use far less data and battery. FM radio is also quite beneficial during emergencies.

When cellular coverage is congested or unavailable, the FM Chip will provide life-saving information from local radio stations. On the heels of widespread natural disasters in Puerto Rico, Houston and the Florida coast, calls have increased for all phone manufacturers to unlock the FM Chip in smartphones as a public safety necessity.
 
Finally. Made me so mad they would disable such features, though I'm not sure how well a smartphone would actually pick up radio signals.
 
My first Android phone was an HTC, who I think were the very first ones to unlock them in the US. What's crazy about having them locked is that for I think 5 or 6 years or so they've been mandated to be in every smartphone. When I upgraded from my HTC to a Samsung Galaxy Note II, I was irritated to lose my radio.
 
So is Samsung going to issue an update to turn on this feature in my Galaxy S7 or do I need to buy a new phone?
 
Given the fact that lots of people have already migrated to streaming and FM radio is in steep decline, does it really make a difference? I've heard the cell phone companies forced the cell manufacturers to disable the radio in order to push for more data usage. Now that the market has made that shift, will this actually have any measurable effect?
 
My Galaxy S8+ already has a working FM chip and I've had the phone for a year or so already. The phone uses whatever is connected to the headphone jack as an antenna. Most of what you hear about FM dying is from Europe. FM is still VERY popular in the United States.

Budman said:
So is Samsung going to issue an update to turn on this feature in my Galaxy S7 or do I need to buy a new phone?
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Did you actually try it before you put forth the emo comment? Supported Devices list for the Next Radio App shows that the S7 has a working FM chip on all carriers: http://nextradioapp.com/supported-devices/


wyqtor said:
Norwegians are not going to be able to use this feature:

https://www.thelocal.no/20171213/norway-becomes-first-country-to-switch-off-fm-radio
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Norwegians like to do things like that and think of themselves as being ahead of the curve, but fact is that Norway barely has more people in it than Oregon... Like most European countries, they aren't nearly as influential as they like to think they are.
 
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All of our iPhones are SOL. Guest there will be a new one, the iPhone XFM.

Jesus I'm tired of my Apple crap.
 
Mohonri said:
Given the fact that lots of people have already migrated to streaming and FM radio is in steep decline, does it really make a difference? I've heard the cell phone companies forced the cell manufacturers to disable the radio in order to push for more data usage. Now that the market has made that shift, will this actually have any measurable effect?
Click to expand...

We will see but to your point the damage is already done, many powerful players wanted people forced to streaming and used to it. This is done and unlikely to reverse. Also if you look there is a correlation between unlimited data and fm radio enabling. Cioincidence? I think not.
 
Does that mean a Samsung phone can broadcast an emergency when it catches fire?
 
Mostly think this is cool, been hearing about it for a few years now and mostly agree.

Just had a thought though, what if someone is able to exploit a security vulnerability in a way similar to those who found out how hack smart T.V.'s using their OTA receivers?
 
I'm wondering how the internal antennas will handle FM? As long as they are decent, I say why not? I still listen to the radio when I am driving. But as others have pointed out, the commercials...they can be bad.
I want AM as well. I like to listen to it sometimes. (I-Heart-Radio app can be used for this - but you are using your data of course).
 
Woot! My Bell Canada Note 8 has an activated FM chip!! Always thought it was deactivated cause thats what I was told but just tested with supplied earbuds and it works :)
 
Were there any Snapdragon-based Samsung phones released since the Note 4 that didn't have the FM receiver enabled? I thought that at least all the US model Samsungs came with it enabled.
 
GotNoRice said:
There are no internal FM antennas. On my Galaxy S8+ at least, it uses whatever is connected to the headphone port as an antenna.
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Nice. From my days of yesteryear playing with a Radio Shack electronic kit, that will probably be a "good enough" antenna.
 
I would absolutely love to have FM radio back on my cellphone.

There is a lot of talk radio I like to listen too.
 
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