Phones should have FM radio again (as an emergency safety feature)

Margot Robbie@lemmy.worldmod to Android@lemmy.world – 456 points –
Phones should have FM radio again
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I didn't even realize Qualcomm removed the built in FM radio from their chips. Huh.

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Maybe the 3.5mm jack and headphones could double as an antenna!

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite does that. If I’m not mistaken, some budget phones nowadays still do that.

Even if they don’t, as long as there’s a headphone jack, it might be possible to add good FM Radio support with NextRadio/Spirit2. You might need to root your phone, though.

The last phone I had with FM radio was a Sony Ericsson slider from 2009

There were a few Motorola smartphones that did that actually. It worked quite well tbh.

All phones I've ever owned did that. The radio app would tell you to plug your earphones.

I had one that didn't require it. I think Prestigio PAP4044 DUO. It could pick up almost nothing, but almost at least wasn't nothing.

That's probably true of all of them. Strictly-speaking, an FM radio with a telescoping antenna can pick things up without extending the antenna, but it's gonna do a pretty poor job.

Sure, but they usually lock you out in software. For example my phone (Poco X3 Pro) will let you turn on FM radio but not tune without antenna connected. Others usually don't let you use it at all.

I guess it's because people kept sending them reports of "FM radio not working".

There still are. I bought mine a year and a couple of months ago and it has FM radio and a 3.5 mm jack. And it's a great phone.

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