The 90s kid in me yearns for a phone with Fm radio, headphone jack, IR blaster, stylus, memory card slot, slide out keyboard and one of those click on projectors the Motorola phones used to have. I would call it the Donatello and it would be radical.
And a translucent purple case!
I've refused to buy these "flagship" phones that don't have a headphone jack. The 90s kid in me will live on, damnit!
Same I use wired earbuds everyday at work and I refuse to buy a phone without one
I recently bought Bluetooth large headphones and I feel like they're a massive improvement. However, when it comes to earbuds (which I still use a lot when big ones are inconvenient), I would never buy wireless ones. I am afraid that in a lot of them, battery is not easily replaceable (while in my big ones it can be accessed by unscrewing a cover), and the small things would get lost fairly easily.
Also you have to spend a lot more for good bluetooth ear buds compared to wired. Like, you can get a pair of KZ ZSN Pros for 20 bucks or so. They sound great, have nice material quality (they got metal bits on em!), good quality cable, great sounding mic... you get the idea. To get bluetooth ear buds that sound just as good you'd probably have to spend like 80 bucks? And they'd be made of plastic and not have the mic quality anywhere near the KZs. It's just so much easier to get good audio quality with a wire.
I do have a pair of Bluetooth headphones and I use them from time to time. I tend to revert to my wired m50x pretty often just out of personal preference
If there was a decent phone with FM radio and an IR blaster, I might pick it over a lot of other ones.
I miss having an IR blaster so much, I was always finding new uses for it. Now I've got little remotes everywhere again
Same, including an IR led is such a simple thing, why did this ever go away. Though I'm pretty sure most Chinese phones still have them, Xiaomi phones do for sure
Basically all the phones with headphone jacks now have abysmal long-term support. Even the fair phone got rid of the headphone jack so they could sell their bullshit wireless headphones
I've an Armor 21, it has the radio, headphone jack, IR blaster and the memory card slot, plus a loud and clear speaker, actual night vision and is rugged as fuck. Base price sub-$250, upcharge for an attachable endoscope.
You'll be happy to know that I bribed my kids into watching the 1990 TMNT live action movie this weekend. The younger one loved it, but the preteen was full of critical commentary the whole time. Go figure. But hey, I won one of them over to the TMNT side.
There are gaming phones, phones with crazy cameras, and iPhones where the lack of features is a feature. What I wish to have is a phone with as many features and functionality as possible.
That includes (but not limited to):
IR blaster
Headphone jack
MicroSD card slot
FM Radio
RGB Notification/Status LED
Rather than a slim phone with a glossy finish that will pick up scratches right away unless wrapped in a phone case, the outer cover of the phone should be rugged and replaceable. Like with old Nokia phones. I don't care about few extra grams, or another millimeter of thickness. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I was hopeful about the Fairphone at first, but they started removing features as well.
"You don't need practical capabilities, you need to be an obedient consumer."
—OEMs
When I changed in my iPhone 3g for an original Galaxy S, with barometer, I thought that by the iPhone/Galaxy 10 we would all be rocking tricorders. What kind of crazy sensors would they jam in by then? Zero. Here we are at generation 15 with no additional cool sensors.
Disappointed Moto Mods didn't catch on. The obvious approach of "skinny phone with minimal features but you can slap whatever you like onto the back (radios, projectors, beefy batteries, gamepad, etc)" - just makes sense for me. I loved my old Moto Z.
I actually meant to reply to your comment but replied to the main thread by mistake, I had the same frustrations with modern phones losing features, and even fairphone dropping the 3.5mm jack was a wtf decision to me. See my comment on the ulephone 18t, it had virutally everything I wanted in a phone.
That includes (but not limited to):
IR blaster
Headphone jack
MicroSD card slot
FM Radio
RGB Notification/Status LED
My Poco F2 Pro has all of those but microSD slot (none of my recent phones have had it, and I'm starting to miss it right now with 128 gb of base storage) and the IR blaster has saved my ass more than once!
I still have my LG v20 because of this. I'd love to upgrade but nothing that's come out since even comes close.
I still have my V10 and v20. My v60 is better though. Definitely some trade-offs but I will argue that v60 is better
Yea, I wasn't ready to upgrade yet when the v60 came out. I guess I should have said "nothing I looked at to upgrade has come close" looking at it now though the non removable battery is a deal breaker.
Many operators around the word are ditching 3g but still keeping 2g.
It is main/backup connection in so many iot and older automation devices that it won't be going away anytime soon.
And yes, both my 2110 and 3310 I alternate in my cars glove compartment can still call emergency services number without sim card.
The device itself is not the concern as much as the network connectivity
Depending on where they are in the world 2G networks might still be active. In Europe they're still on for a few more years in most countries.
No. I don't know of anywhere that a 2G network is still available to use. Some still operate it for emergency calls but that's it.
You can deploy your own 2g base station with openbts and some cheap software-defined radio hardware. Don't crank up the signal though so you won't run afoul with the government agencies that regulate radio spectrum in your country.
It's anybody's guess but if the battery hasn't crapped out it probably would.
I have a bunch of old Nokia's whose batteries puffed up and I can't use them anymore but I also have some that are still ok.
Oh and they'd have to also find the charger for it.
Some of these I get, but I don't get the T9 thing. T9 was so bad! It took ages to type many words. Today's predictive keyboards are miles better.
Also, no software updates? Sure, every now and then there's a shitty update, but most updates are great. New features and especially bug fixes are amazing. Used to be that if something had a bug, you just had to deal with it. There's no guarantees it'll be fixed today, but many companies do fix their bugs at least eventually. The ability to iteratively develop is huge for software quality. These days, unless you're developing something that absolutely cannot fail (like a mars prober or radiation therapy machine), it's widely agreed upon that iterative design is superior to "waterfall" design of trying to plan it out all ahead of time. Part of why is so you can get feedback continuously instead of only after you've committed to months of tech debt.
When T9 was all we had, we got real good at it.
No software updates mean they have to get it right the first time, which they always seemed to manage.
Why? Have you heard radio? Every station is just a glorified shitty playlist that they cycle through a dozen times a day
Because if the cell networks fail, right now there's no backup method to get crucial information to everyone's hands.
Radio are an easy secondary, really long range mechanism to get information INTO disaster stricken areas when normal means of communications have failed.
That's what happens when we "removed regulations" and allowed Clear Channel (aka iHeartRadio) to buy up most every major station in the country.
However you can still do short range FM transmissions yourself, as a lot of people do with elaborate Christmas light displays, plus it's useful in emergency situations.
every major station in the country.
Which country?
Probably the US, since they just assume everyone would know they're talking about the US.
plus it's useful in emergency situations.
Yes, in case of emergency, tune to a Clear Channel station so they can tell you how the emergency is the fault if the Woke Left.
And crazy levels of advertising to boot.
Emergencies that would normally sever other means of communications. Think natural disasters that interrupt internet access. Usually radio stations are the first to come back up, and priceless at times where information is key.
Where I am we've got the BBC local radio network and they've got some amazing local music shows for each region granted all is available via their now locked down sounds app
In Atlanta we have a pretty nice jazz station (WCLK). The station that NPR took over (Album 88) was a university station and they still play stuff in the evening I think. There can be good content but it is heavily reliant on where you live. Come to think of it, WCLK is a university station as well. So I guess you have to have universities around.
Maybe if you live somewhere with good radio stations... the radio is pretty much dead here. Nothing but Christian talk and static.
And ads... You forgot ads.... Never ending ads..
I switched to satellite years ago (when there was two competing services) because I once had an hour long drive and didn't hear anything but ads the whole way. I was fed up with it.
I now pretty much use Spotify because XM and Sirius merged, so now there's only the one service, and they immediately cut features, introduced ads, and jacked up prices. So I cancelled.
You mean as soon as two competeting companies merged to create a monopoly it caused massive problems? Who could have guessed!
I bet when you canceled you got harassed for years after with weekly letters in the mail begging you to sign up. Every time I've bought a car I've had to deal with this same bullshit.
I canceled my satellite radio subscription in, oh, 2017 I think?
This is tangential to the conversation but have you heard of Radio Garden? You can listen to radio stations around the world. As for "good radio stations," I'm partial to college radio stations like 90.7 FM in NYC. They have a lot of freedom with their playlists.
Yeah, but you use the Internet for things like that; not an actual FM radio.
Then you'd need to include a headphone jack since the headphones acted as the antenna.
Good.
It's funny how the few who're totally sold on Bluetooth go "ugh, but then you'd need a headphone jack" as if it isn't an upgrade for others which wouldn't affect their ability to use Bluetooth at all.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. You can still use Bluetooth even when your phone has a headphone jack, and headphone jacks can be IP67 rated so it’s not a concern for waterproofing.
How did I say that like it's a bad thing?
Why is it limited to 67? It should be easier than the USB port right?
I mean, the only other rating above that is IP68, and that would require them to specify the depth and time that the phone can be submerged. Most manufacturers only go for IP67 because it’s much cheaper to test.
That I know but I was wondering why you specifically mentioned 67. I guess I misread that as a limit.
Nah, not a limit. It’s just a cost/benefit trade off. Manufacturers don’t typically push for IP68 unless they’re specifically marketing the device for underwater use, and believe users will be willing to accept the higher resulting cost.
I wonder if wired USB-C Headphones could work the same?
I'm going to chime in here to plug the ulefone power armor 18t I just got. I was pretty nervous to get a chinese phone as I've only had samsung and lg phones before, but this thing legit blows me away. Not only does it fully support every band that my carrier uses (rare even for phones made for the US market), but it has:
Replaceable battery that lasts 3+ days between recharges
Extremely rugged, IP69 waterproof and designed for underwater photography (physical shutter button and diving camera app)
3.5mm jack, sd card slot, FM radio (with built in antenna - no headphones need to be plugged in), and an RGB notification led
Dimensity 900 chipset that beats a lot of the snapdragon chips on the market.
12 fucking GB of RAM... yes, 12...
Wifi 6(ax)
Wireless charging and reverse charging
A fucking 60x magnification microscope? (Why???)
A FLIR thermal camera (Just because, why the fuck not)
Runs mostly bloat free stock android
All that for under $600 (on aliexpress)
The only thing it's missing is an IR blaster, otherwise this is the best phone I've ever had, bar none. It is a chonky beast though, be warned.
This has really changed my view on Chinese electronics, especially at a time when phones for the western world are losing features and functionality all the time (including stuff from South Korean). Turns out capitalism isn't that great for innovation!
As a former fan of ulefones:
They're great as long as they work, but I already had two ulefones where something broke internally physically and the IR-blaster blasted non-stop, even after the phone was off.
Never had other significant problems, tho.
Damn, this seems like exactly what I've been looking for... Shame I'm finding it a year late.
One last really important point you didn't mention is how long do they serve security updates for?
Yeah I'm not looking for Chinese spyware on my phone's from a company that will no longer exist in 3 months.
i remember old ipods could listen to the radio using the headphones as an antenna and i thought it was the coolest thing in the world. listening to a live feed like that is so much more...viscerally satisfying than just streaming a song or even listening to internet radio, where it could easily be just a computer. it's nice knowing someone is actually creating a show for you in real time
Sadly 95% of the shows are just computers with a pre-loaded playlist. Still fun to know though that you are listening with a lot of other people together.
The shows don't really exist anymore. At least not in my area. Well over a decade ago they were all replaced by playlists and commercials.
You could check out NTS Radio - so many shows from a very wide variety of genres, and they have an archive of every episode
Only a couple of the final pod nanos had built-in radio, the other iPods all required additional hardware to be plugged in. I found that the hard way with an iPod classic... Even my shitty flip phone had built-in radio with an earpiece connected lol.
There is a conspiracy with the iHeartRadio music festival.
How many people do you know who get hyped up to go see an amalgamation of 6-15 year old bands with no new music?
ClearChannel (and therefore iHeart) sells advertising enmasse so that messages and products can be pushed the largest groups. They hype up the music festival like its a great big deal, and then they give away tickets.
I genuinely wonder how many people paid for tickets vs. "won" tickets from one of the 9 different radio stations that cover their area.
For emergency purposes, mandate cell tower batteries with solar supplement.
And generators for bigger hubs.
Cellular internet is critical infrastructure now.
Same for ISPs. My internet wifi has battery backup, so as long as the ISP stays up we are good.
Cell towers nearby all went down during the last big power failure. I could hit one distant tower that still had power, but the signal was weak, and the tower was swamped. It could barely push data.
Next big earthquake will be a total shitshow if that's not fixed.
A lot of posts in here complaining about shitty commercial radio. Do you all not have local radio stations? I love my local stations.
We have a dozen local stations...all owned by clearchanel.
The high school the next town over has the best music in the whole city. Unfortunately I live right on the edge of the broadcast range so it cuts out at home.
Local radio sucks.
It’s nothing but ads. I’ve tried listening to a couple of them and the music selection is horrendous bracketed by lengthy ads. Bad to worse.
You have shitty local radio. I have an indie station that's mostly listener supported that plays tons of obscure stuff.
Good for you.
I had read this in another thread, but radio was one of the first (if not first) media form to be entshittified. Decades before we even had a term for it.
My comment pertains to the USA, but regardless of where you live, there is a very strong likelihood that your local commercial stations are owned by a company like iHeartRadio and much, if not all, of the content is syndicated.
The only exception might be a local nonprofit radio station. You probably have at best one local station in this case, unless you live in a major city broadcast region. Keep in mind I mean one local station that plays music. A local NPR station is probably separate from this. Even most of NPR is syndicated, however.
If you're lucky, a local college might still have a radio station broadcasting over FM, but so many have moved online since you then don't need an [expensive and volatile] FCC license.
I've never bought a phone without FM radio. I regard it as an emergency tool.
Well, that's surely something to consider, but it's still not a fact. I wouldn't even expect that to happen in my country any time soon. I know radio is struggling right now, but I also know I can stream live FM radio stations from all over the world.
In any case, if DAB can replace FM even for emergency use, that's what I'd want in my phone.
I'm people ITT. what's a college radio station? I'm imagining the illegal setup Hal had in that Malcolm in the middle episode.
It’s a radio station at a college. They are usually public access and therefore, the content is free form.
I'd like to shout out community radio as well! Your town or city probably has one or you can stream them online. Local DJs playing whatever they want with no ads, just music. I volunteer for a couple and they're really fun to be a part of.
My car has DAB+ and it kinda sucks. In principle it's better, the audio quality is better and instead of static it decreases the volume when the signal degrades. But it's so sensitive to interference and when it looses the signal (or thinks it has lost it), it starts hunting and gets totally confused. Often it can't re-acquire the signal till I just hit the button to re-tune to the channel.
Maybe it's just the radio in my car is bad (2016 Chevy, nothing special) or I live in a bit of a dead zone or something.
I imagine if you don't move it would work perfectly, but when driving it's mostly annoying. Which is a shame, because a lot of stations are only on DAB+, not having the money for an FM license.
Definitely. Especially in countries like the UK where the only decent commercial radio station (absolute radio) is now DAB only.
I don't even remember the last time I listened to FM radio. I just don't like listening to the same 20 songs on repeat with annoying ads
They're all run by really cheap computer programs now, they have been terrible since they fired all the djs.
Can you pick up any community radio in your area? We have one and every couple of hours it's a different type of music. Blues, Rock, Hip-Hop, Reggae etc. All music chosen by the person you hear on the air.
Not long ago I decided to buy a radio just for emergencies. I guess having it in my smartphone would be better yes.
I got myself a proper camping radio. It lets you charge your phone on it too, and recharges with solar panels AND a manual dynamo hand crank where working it for ten minutes gives you an hour of radio.
Yeah, a lot of smartphone chipsets still have an FM tuner, but it needs additional circuitry (e.g. a 3.5mm jack to use as the antenna) that most device makers don't implement.
Or they just disable the radio for some reason even though everything else is there. They've been hardware disabling them these days instead of just software. Makes you wonder.
That’s been going on for years. I had a Nexus One back in 2010, it had the radio hardware but no software support in the stock ROM. When I installed an alternate ROM the radio worked just fine.
Removing headphone jacks is more about saving internal space and pushing Bluetooth headphone sales than a ploy to stop radio listening though.
Makes me wonder if you understand that if they have the feature turned on then they need to support it with additional hardware, software, and ongoing tech support.
Even if it was as simple as turning it on, they would need to support people complaining about reception since phone sizes are not great for FM antennae (which they most likely don't have). Then they would need to support people who complain about signal quality since FM is not a work/not work situation like digital. Don't even get me started on the confusing FM HD weirdness. Oh, then they need to have an app built in that people can ignore because they didn't spend any money on it like their other terrible default apps.
Considering when I use the radio in the car I might get 2 songs before 5 minus of commercials, no thanks. Audiobooks, podcasts, and PlexAmp all the way
it's not about the entertainment value, but rather news, weather and other information during emergencies when your cell signal might, and is more likely to, go to shit.
I mean, just because it’s included doesn’t mean you have to use it.
In 2017, Mexico passed regulation that required all smartphones with FM chips to enable them
Now I've got in my head "I'm on a Mexican, radio..."
Certain phones have it, but use your wired headphones as an antenna while leveraging your Bluetooth..
In Japan they had phones with TV tuners
In Japan they had phones with TV tuners
Not my phone Mr. NHK man.
Mobile carriers are worried about "congested mobile broadband" right? Surely they'd want something like this implemented if it could cut down on peak usage and not have to force their hand to do that awful throttling they must hate so much?
only time i ever used phone FM was camping. not often lately. car has fm but radio commercials assault my nerves, use mp3s on a stick or streaming w/$10/mo
Coming late to this part but Umidigi phones still do FM radio and don't even require headphones to be plugged in any more.
With all the blackouts I had these past 2 years, YEA PLEASE. Hell, I was a out to relearn how to make a homemade AM radio. Haven't done it in 28 years.
The last couple major power failures we've had in my area, information was by far the most difficult thing to come by.
The power goes out, and shortly thereafter so does cable internet. My UPS usually keeps my cable box up longer than the service itself lasts. That puts everyone on the cell network, which is immediately overloaded. So the internet is essentially worthless during most hours.
FM radio stations are similarly worthless. I remember a power outage last winter where there was going to be a press conference, I think the governor was going to talk about something...couldn't get coverage. The local FM station was up and running, they were broadcasting just fine, but they were trying to patch into the press conference via Facebook, and the internet wasn't up to it. They apparently don't have their own radio uplinks anymore.
The local television station would have been more help...if I could get an antenna high enough to hear it.
And during normal business hours most broadcast FM stations are IHeartRadio transmitting the same 20 songs intercut with the same 90,000 advertisements. Or broadcasting The Two Retards Named Chris show three times a day.
Fun fact: almost every phone on the market has the hardware. It's just drivers/software that are missing (and, more recently, the antenna's been unavailable with the removal of the audio jack. The radio chip is still in there though)
Well, thinking about it like that really puts things in a new perspective.
Even most cheapo mp3 players have this functionality built in
I miss when MP3 players were popular. There was a lot more variety in consumer tech before 2013-ish
I love my Surfans F20 got it 3 years ago and its still going strong after quite a few drops and nicks. I wish they made a updated usb-c version but otherwise as a big music guy that hates music streaming, downloads everything, and prefers the convinence of a dedicated digital audio device its just awesome.
That thing looks old as hell in the best possible ways haha, I love it
That thing looks super nice!
Looks vaguely like the older Zunes
Why? My country doesn’t even have FM anymore. It shut down in 2017, frequencies repurposed for more useful things.
It’s an almost 100 years old technology..
Norway?
How's the DAB+ coverage now? I've heard some ugly stuff about it before when the switch happened.
I'm sad that my Asus Zenfone 9 (it has a headphone jack) can't get FM radio. The app I use (NextRadio) can't detect a FM tuner on the phone.
You might like radiogarden! It pulls streams for any radio stations that clone their feed online. You won't get everything but you have the option to listen to radio from anywhere in the world!
Every phone I had that did this also used the wired headphone cable as an antenna. Personally I do like Bluetooth on the go (for casual listening only), so I'm not actually sure it would be usable unless the phone had a separate antenna.
This is still a feature in some major brands though. I have a Moto g power from a relatively recent model year and it comes with a built-in FM Radio app that uses wired headphones as an antenna. It also still has a headphone jack so I don't know how indicative it is of the broader US market.
No thanks. I listened to radio the other day (not in my car) and it was all ads and a shortened version of a song so they can do more ads.
I didn’t realize radio got so bad.
Bring back PTT! Miss my Nextel.
I just looked, the app I used to use for a Nextel replacement still exists, it's called Voxer. Cannot speak to it's quality anymore but I did use it a lot back in the day.
FM radio is the one feature removal I don't mind. You can access all radio on the internet now, so it's unnecessary anyway.
And when the internet goes out during a hurricane? Thats a thing
Better would be to have an emergency radio receiver with alternate power (e.g., a hand crank), and save your phone battery for outgoing emergency calls.
This is something I currently have, but there’s a few benefits of having it built into the phone:
everyone has a phone
people are on it all the time so they know it works (when was the last time you tried that emergency radio shoved in the cabinet to make sure it still works)
Phone chargers with large batteries are available everywhere. Keep one charged up and you can charge your phone many times over. Better yet, Solar ones should be on your list if you’re in a hurricane zone. I have one and test it regularly. You can get a crank one if you want as well.
most people keep their phones on them in an emergency. Now they have an emergency radio on them as well.
One problem with relying on a phone to receive emergency FM broadcasts is that the phone usually needed wired headphones to be connected to use as the FM antenna.
Most smartphones today don’t even have a headphone jack. Even if they did bring them back, many people have embraced wireless headphones/earbuds and so wouldn’t have any wired ones to hand during an emergency.
There are possible ways to have an integrated FM antenna but it would have greatly reduced range - so not great in an emergency either.
I'd rather a wind up radio for emergencies as opposed to wasting the battery life on the one thing I can use to call for emergency services.
Edit: also, who uses FM in emergencies. You want AM radio for that.
It doesn't have to be a big emergency, FM can still be very useful. A few years ago there was an earthquake in my city that wasn't too big but we still had to evacuate the building. I don't remember any damage in my area but because everyone was trying to make calls there was ZERO cell service. So a bunch of people were gathered around my phone listening to a news station for updates because I was the only one who had brought headphones. Without FM this ability is now lost.
You are right, depending on the emergency AM is a better choice. Many people have phones, few have crank radios.
The one headphone adapter I have doesn't seem to work, and I don't think there was one with the phone. Finicky is probably right!
Mine still does.
puts on shades
One of the reasons why I picked the Xiaomi Poco X3
FM was switched off in 2017 (Norway), but a DAB chip would've been nice.
So, what, we're just going to carry around USB antennas now?
A lot of phones already have the capability to recieve broadcast band FM, the type and electrical length of the antenna matters a lot less when you're just receiving signals.
No better way to drain phone battery. Also doubles as a hand warmer.
You do SDR on your phone? The last time I played with one of those dongles was like a decade ago and mostly I used it to check out NOAA satellite data and eavesdrop on air traffic control at the local airport.
I wonder how useful that would still be to keep tabs on the local pigs during the protests the next time they murder someone?
This 2022 Nokia has an FM radio. I had a look at the app and it says 'Please plug in your headset to tune'. It's not impossible that the USB C port is wired so wired headphones plugged in through an adaptor act as an aerial I suppose.
Yes they do, and it's amazing to "tune the radio. Those wires are soo finicky you can hear high school physics!!!
Not sarcastic btw. I really do enjoy those damned finicky cables xD
My phone has an FM radio.
I've listened to it in long international flights just to see how things change.
other than that it serves no purpose whatsoever.
I suppose it could be useful in an emergency but I'd bet just having cell seryqould fair better.
Why? So I can listen to local dealership and furniture store adverts? No thanks
"My use case is the only use case in the whole world!"
Every time I get in a car without Bluetooth or an aux and have to listen to the radio, I'm quickly reminded that I'd actually prefer to listen to road noise than ads and turn it off.
I must be ootl; what’s the upside compared to Spotify ? Having to endure ads, talk-shows and other open mics while having shitty reception isn’t enticing… at least here there isn’t any station I would find satisfying content-wise; given the whole frequency assignment bullshit small stations are few and far between with nothing that would cover metal and / or frenchcore. So the small benefit of music discovery isn’t really possible anymore for me.
If you can afford to pay for all that mobile data usage, and if you're walking through an area with good mobile data coverage, go right ahead.
For the rest of us, we have to suffice with saving our MP3s to an SD Card and listening that way, or using the radio, though as you pointed out radio sucks haha. But it is very low power and low barrier to entry!
What mobile data usage? I’m loading my tracks at home save a few times I browse where I have network coverage… for all intents and purposes bar the monthly tax it’s the same as my good old mp3 player. Also audio streaming isn’t exactly the most bandwidth consuming thing right ? Unless you want lossless quality but then good luck with FM radio…
FM access would cut down on mobile data usage… up-to-the-minute weather reports and automated alerts… are broadcasted at 162.400, which means you need specialized radios to pick up the stations… maybe an external antenna could use the shield or one of the pins on the phone’s charging port, or wired USB-C headphones and 3.5mm adapters could be updated to work as antennas… There could also just be an adapter that connects to the phone and contains all the required hardware…
The 90s kid in me yearns for a phone with Fm radio, headphone jack, IR blaster, stylus, memory card slot, slide out keyboard and one of those click on projectors the Motorola phones used to have. I would call it the Donatello and it would be radical.
And a translucent purple case!
I've refused to buy these "flagship" phones that don't have a headphone jack. The 90s kid in me will live on, damnit!
Same I use wired earbuds everyday at work and I refuse to buy a phone without one
I recently bought Bluetooth large headphones and I feel like they're a massive improvement. However, when it comes to earbuds (which I still use a lot when big ones are inconvenient), I would never buy wireless ones. I am afraid that in a lot of them, battery is not easily replaceable (while in my big ones it can be accessed by unscrewing a cover), and the small things would get lost fairly easily.
Also you have to spend a lot more for good bluetooth ear buds compared to wired. Like, you can get a pair of KZ ZSN Pros for 20 bucks or so. They sound great, have nice material quality (they got metal bits on em!), good quality cable, great sounding mic... you get the idea. To get bluetooth ear buds that sound just as good you'd probably have to spend like 80 bucks? And they'd be made of plastic and not have the mic quality anywhere near the KZs. It's just so much easier to get good audio quality with a wire.
I do have a pair of Bluetooth headphones and I use them from time to time. I tend to revert to my wired m50x pretty often just out of personal preference
If there was a decent phone with FM radio and an IR blaster, I might pick it over a lot of other ones.
I miss having an IR blaster so much, I was always finding new uses for it. Now I've got little remotes everywhere again
Same, including an IR led is such a simple thing, why did this ever go away. Though I'm pretty sure most Chinese phones still have them, Xiaomi phones do for sure
Basically all the phones with headphone jacks now have abysmal long-term support. Even the fair phone got rid of the headphone jack so they could sell their bullshit wireless headphones
This is why I love Sony phones.
I've an Armor 21, it has the radio, headphone jack, IR blaster and the memory card slot, plus a loud and clear speaker, actual night vision and is rugged as fuck. Base price sub-$250, upcharge for an attachable endoscope.
You'll be happy to know that I bribed my kids into watching the 1990 TMNT live action movie this weekend. The younger one loved it, but the preteen was full of critical commentary the whole time. Go figure. But hey, I won one of them over to the TMNT side.
There are gaming phones, phones with crazy cameras, and iPhones where the lack of features is a feature. What I wish to have is a phone with as many features and functionality as possible.
That includes (but not limited to): IR blaster Headphone jack MicroSD card slot FM Radio RGB Notification/Status LED
Rather than a slim phone with a glossy finish that will pick up scratches right away unless wrapped in a phone case, the outer cover of the phone should be rugged and replaceable. Like with old Nokia phones. I don't care about few extra grams, or another millimeter of thickness. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I was hopeful about the Fairphone at first, but they started removing features as well.
"You don't need practical capabilities, you need to be an obedient consumer."
—OEMs
When I changed in my iPhone 3g for an original Galaxy S, with barometer, I thought that by the iPhone/Galaxy 10 we would all be rocking tricorders. What kind of crazy sensors would they jam in by then? Zero. Here we are at generation 15 with no additional cool sensors.
FOUR cameras, however!
Disappointed Moto Mods didn't catch on. The obvious approach of "skinny phone with minimal features but you can slap whatever you like onto the back (radios, projectors, beefy batteries, gamepad, etc)" - just makes sense for me. I loved my old Moto Z.
I actually meant to reply to your comment but replied to the main thread by mistake, I had the same frustrations with modern phones losing features, and even fairphone dropping the 3.5mm jack was a wtf decision to me. See my comment on the ulephone 18t, it had virutally everything I wanted in a phone.
My Poco F2 Pro has all of those but microSD slot (none of my recent phones have had it, and I'm starting to miss it right now with 128 gb of base storage) and the IR blaster has saved my ass more than once!
I still have my LG v20 because of this. I'd love to upgrade but nothing that's come out since even comes close.
I still have my V10 and v20. My v60 is better though. Definitely some trade-offs but I will argue that v60 is better
Yea, I wasn't ready to upgrade yet when the v60 came out. I guess I should have said "nothing I looked at to upgrade has come close" looking at it now though the non removable battery is a deal breaker.
I've come to the realization that the phone I want is a Nokia 3310 "brick".
You can buy one right now.
You mean like a 20 year old one? Would it even work?
Yeah. It'd probably still have charge too.
I found one in the back of a drawer a few weeks ago, it turned on straight away. I didn’t have the right size SIM card to try and use it fully sadly.
Come the apocalypse there will just be cockroaches and old Nokias.
You cold dredge one up from the bottom of the ocean and it would still pick up a signal.
Don't forget the twinkies!
Wasn't it like 2g cellular?
Many operators around the word are ditching 3g but still keeping 2g.
It is main/backup connection in so many iot and older automation devices that it won't be going away anytime soon.
And yes, both my 2110 and 3310 I alternate in my cars glove compartment can still call emergency services number without sim card.
I mean how many g's are strictly necessary
I mean as many gs as the network still strictly supports...
Well it is a Nokia so...
The device itself is not the concern as much as the network connectivity
Depending on where they are in the world 2G networks might still be active. In Europe they're still on for a few more years in most countries.
No. I don't know of anywhere that a 2G network is still available to use. Some still operate it for emergency calls but that's it.
You can deploy your own 2g base station with openbts and some cheap software-defined radio hardware. Don't crank up the signal though so you won't run afoul with the government agencies that regulate radio spectrum in your country.
It's anybody's guess but if the battery hasn't crapped out it probably would.
I have a bunch of old Nokia's whose batteries puffed up and I can't use them anymore but I also have some that are still ok.
Oh and they'd have to also find the charger for it.
Everyone talks about how great Nokia bricks are, but you actually do have to be careful not to drop them or you might damage the floor.
T9, back when you could text and drive without ever taking your eyes off the road.
Some of these I get, but I don't get the T9 thing. T9 was so bad! It took ages to type many words. Today's predictive keyboards are miles better.
Also, no software updates? Sure, every now and then there's a shitty update, but most updates are great. New features and especially bug fixes are amazing. Used to be that if something had a bug, you just had to deal with it. There's no guarantees it'll be fixed today, but many companies do fix their bugs at least eventually. The ability to iteratively develop is huge for software quality. These days, unless you're developing something that absolutely cannot fail (like a mars prober or radiation therapy machine), it's widely agreed upon that iterative design is superior to "waterfall" design of trying to plan it out all ahead of time. Part of why is so you can get feedback continuously instead of only after you've committed to months of tech debt.
When T9 was all we had, we got real good at it.
No software updates mean they have to get it right the first time, which they always seemed to manage.
Dr Who vs Daleks. I think it's krobot on linux.
Why? Have you heard radio? Every station is just a glorified shitty playlist that they cycle through a dozen times a day
Because if the cell networks fail, right now there's no backup method to get crucial information to everyone's hands.
Radio are an easy secondary, really long range mechanism to get information INTO disaster stricken areas when normal means of communications have failed.
That's what happens when we "removed regulations" and allowed Clear Channel (aka iHeartRadio) to buy up most every major station in the country.
However you can still do short range FM transmissions yourself, as a lot of people do with elaborate Christmas light displays, plus it's useful in emergency situations.
Which country?
Probably the US, since they just assume everyone would know they're talking about the US.
Yes, in case of emergency, tune to a Clear Channel station so they can tell you how the emergency is the fault if the Woke Left.
And crazy levels of advertising to boot.
Emergencies that would normally sever other means of communications. Think natural disasters that interrupt internet access. Usually radio stations are the first to come back up, and priceless at times where information is key.
Where I am we've got the BBC local radio network and they've got some amazing local music shows for each region granted all is available via their now locked down sounds app
In Atlanta we have a pretty nice jazz station (WCLK). The station that NPR took over (Album 88) was a university station and they still play stuff in the evening I think. There can be good content but it is heavily reliant on where you live. Come to think of it, WCLK is a university station as well. So I guess you have to have universities around.
Maybe if you live somewhere with good radio stations... the radio is pretty much dead here. Nothing but Christian talk and static.
And ads... You forgot ads.... Never ending ads..
I switched to satellite years ago (when there was two competing services) because I once had an hour long drive and didn't hear anything but ads the whole way. I was fed up with it.
I now pretty much use Spotify because XM and Sirius merged, so now there's only the one service, and they immediately cut features, introduced ads, and jacked up prices. So I cancelled.
You mean as soon as two competeting companies merged to create a monopoly it caused massive problems? Who could have guessed!
I bet when you canceled you got harassed for years after with weekly letters in the mail begging you to sign up. Every time I've bought a car I've had to deal with this same bullshit.
I canceled my satellite radio subscription in, oh, 2017 I think?
Yep, 3 years of harassment.
This is tangential to the conversation but have you heard of Radio Garden? You can listen to radio stations around the world. As for "good radio stations," I'm partial to college radio stations like 90.7 FM in NYC. They have a lot of freedom with their playlists.
Yeah, but you use the Internet for things like that; not an actual FM radio.
Would be great for an apocalypse
Then you'd need to include a headphone jack since the headphones acted as the antenna.
Good.
It's funny how the few who're totally sold on Bluetooth go "ugh, but then you'd need a headphone jack" as if it isn't an upgrade for others which wouldn't affect their ability to use Bluetooth at all.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. You can still use Bluetooth even when your phone has a headphone jack, and headphone jacks can be IP67 rated so it’s not a concern for waterproofing.
How did I say that like it's a bad thing?
Why is it limited to 67? It should be easier than the USB port right?
I mean, the only other rating above that is IP68, and that would require them to specify the depth and time that the phone can be submerged. Most manufacturers only go for IP67 because it’s much cheaper to test.
That I know but I was wondering why you specifically mentioned 67. I guess I misread that as a limit.
Nah, not a limit. It’s just a cost/benefit trade off. Manufacturers don’t typically push for IP68 unless they’re specifically marketing the device for underwater use, and believe users will be willing to accept the higher resulting cost.
I wonder if wired USB-C Headphones could work the same?
I'm going to chime in here to plug the ulefone power armor 18t I just got. I was pretty nervous to get a chinese phone as I've only had samsung and lg phones before, but this thing legit blows me away. Not only does it fully support every band that my carrier uses (rare even for phones made for the US market), but it has:
Replaceable battery that lasts 3+ days between recharges
Extremely rugged, IP69 waterproof and designed for underwater photography (physical shutter button and diving camera app)
3.5mm jack, sd card slot, FM radio (with built in antenna - no headphones need to be plugged in), and an RGB notification led
Dimensity 900 chipset that beats a lot of the snapdragon chips on the market.
12 fucking GB of RAM... yes, 12...
Wifi 6(ax)
Wireless charging and reverse charging
A fucking 60x magnification microscope? (Why???)
A FLIR thermal camera (Just because, why the fuck not)
Runs mostly bloat free stock android
All that for under $600 (on aliexpress)
The only thing it's missing is an IR blaster, otherwise this is the best phone I've ever had, bar none. It is a chonky beast though, be warned.
This has really changed my view on Chinese electronics, especially at a time when phones for the western world are losing features and functionality all the time (including stuff from South Korean). Turns out capitalism isn't that great for innovation!
As a former fan of ulefones:
They're great as long as they work, but I already had two ulefones where something broke internally physically and the IR-blaster blasted non-stop, even after the phone was off. Never had other significant problems, tho.
Damn, this seems like exactly what I've been looking for... Shame I'm finding it a year late.
One last really important point you didn't mention is how long do they serve security updates for?
Yeah I'm not looking for Chinese spyware on my phone's from a company that will no longer exist in 3 months.
i remember old ipods could listen to the radio using the headphones as an antenna and i thought it was the coolest thing in the world. listening to a live feed like that is so much more...viscerally satisfying than just streaming a song or even listening to internet radio, where it could easily be just a computer. it's nice knowing someone is actually creating a show for you in real time
Sadly 95% of the shows are just computers with a pre-loaded playlist. Still fun to know though that you are listening with a lot of other people together.
The shows don't really exist anymore. At least not in my area. Well over a decade ago they were all replaced by playlists and commercials.
You could check out NTS Radio - so many shows from a very wide variety of genres, and they have an archive of every episode
Only a couple of the final pod nanos had built-in radio, the other iPods all required additional hardware to be plugged in. I found that the hard way with an iPod classic... Even my shitty flip phone had built-in radio with an earpiece connected lol.
Wait, you guys don't have FM radio on your phones?
Most scrappy overpriced phones doesn't have mini jack so no antenna to get radio
Why? ClearChannel has all but ruined it.
Remember, not everyone lives in the US.
There is a conspiracy with the iHeartRadio music festival.
How many people do you know who get hyped up to go see an amalgamation of 6-15 year old bands with no new music?
ClearChannel (and therefore iHeart) sells advertising enmasse so that messages and products can be pushed the largest groups. They hype up the music festival like its a great big deal, and then they give away tickets.
I genuinely wonder how many people paid for tickets vs. "won" tickets from one of the 9 different radio stations that cover their area.
For emergency purposes, mandate cell tower batteries with solar supplement.
And generators for bigger hubs.
Cellular internet is critical infrastructure now.
Same for ISPs. My internet wifi has battery backup, so as long as the ISP stays up we are good.
Cell towers nearby all went down during the last big power failure. I could hit one distant tower that still had power, but the signal was weak, and the tower was swamped. It could barely push data.
Next big earthquake will be a total shitshow if that's not fixed.
high end ones dont even have headphone jacks for starters
A lot of posts in here complaining about shitty commercial radio. Do you all not have local radio stations? I love my local stations.
We have a dozen local stations...all owned by clearchanel.
The high school the next town over has the best music in the whole city. Unfortunately I live right on the edge of the broadcast range so it cuts out at home.
Local radio sucks.
It’s nothing but ads. I’ve tried listening to a couple of them and the music selection is horrendous bracketed by lengthy ads. Bad to worse.
You have shitty local radio. I have an indie station that's mostly listener supported that plays tons of obscure stuff.
Good for you.
I had read this in another thread, but radio was one of the first (if not first) media form to be entshittified. Decades before we even had a term for it.
My comment pertains to the USA, but regardless of where you live, there is a very strong likelihood that your local commercial stations are owned by a company like iHeartRadio and much, if not all, of the content is syndicated.
The only exception might be a local nonprofit radio station. You probably have at best one local station in this case, unless you live in a major city broadcast region. Keep in mind I mean one local station that plays music. A local NPR station is probably separate from this. Even most of NPR is syndicated, however.
If you're lucky, a local college might still have a radio station broadcasting over FM, but so many have moved online since you then don't need an [expensive and volatile] FCC license.
I've never bought a phone without FM radio. I regard it as an emergency tool.
That doesn't help much if your country has shut down FM broadcasting though.
I didn't even know that DAB exists.
It would be very, very hard to make old and rural people switch in my country. We still have analog tv for the same reason. 🇨🇱
Oye weon que andai haciendo acá jaja
So long Radio Free Europe
Well, that's surely something to consider, but it's still not a fact. I wouldn't even expect that to happen in my country any time soon. I know radio is struggling right now, but I also know I can stream live FM radio stations from all over the world.
In any case, if DAB can replace FM even for emergency use, that's what I'd want in my phone.
ITT: people who have never heard of college radio stations
There is no such thing in France. Only crap between lots of ads.
I'm people ITT. what's a college radio station? I'm imagining the illegal setup Hal had in that Malcolm in the middle episode.
It’s a radio station at a college. They are usually public access and therefore, the content is free form.
I'd like to shout out community radio as well! Your town or city probably has one or you can stream them online. Local DJs playing whatever they want with no ads, just music. I volunteer for a couple and they're really fun to be a part of.
They should have DAB+ radio. Much better.
My car has DAB+ and it kinda sucks. In principle it's better, the audio quality is better and instead of static it decreases the volume when the signal degrades. But it's so sensitive to interference and when it looses the signal (or thinks it has lost it), it starts hunting and gets totally confused. Often it can't re-acquire the signal till I just hit the button to re-tune to the channel. Maybe it's just the radio in my car is bad (2016 Chevy, nothing special) or I live in a bit of a dead zone or something. I imagine if you don't move it would work perfectly, but when driving it's mostly annoying. Which is a shame, because a lot of stations are only on DAB+, not having the money for an FM license.
Definitely. Especially in countries like the UK where the only decent commercial radio station (absolute radio) is now DAB only.
I don't even remember the last time I listened to FM radio. I just don't like listening to the same 20 songs on repeat with annoying ads
They're all run by really cheap computer programs now, they have been terrible since they fired all the djs.
Can you pick up any community radio in your area? We have one and every couple of hours it's a different type of music. Blues, Rock, Hip-Hop, Reggae etc. All music chosen by the person you hear on the air.
Not long ago I decided to buy a radio just for emergencies. I guess having it in my smartphone would be better yes.
I got myself a proper camping radio. It lets you charge your phone on it too, and recharges with solar panels AND a manual dynamo hand crank where working it for ten minutes gives you an hour of radio.
OTOH I bet the radio would last a lot longer.
from what i recall almost every QCOM chipset has the circuitry baked in, it's just disabled. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/phones-fm-chips-radio-smartphone/
Yeah, a lot of smartphone chipsets still have an FM tuner, but it needs additional circuitry (e.g. a 3.5mm jack to use as the antenna) that most device makers don't implement.
Or they just disable the radio for some reason even though everything else is there. They've been hardware disabling them these days instead of just software. Makes you wonder.
That’s been going on for years. I had a Nexus One back in 2010, it had the radio hardware but no software support in the stock ROM. When I installed an alternate ROM the radio worked just fine.
Removing headphone jacks is more about saving internal space and pushing Bluetooth headphone sales than a ploy to stop radio listening though.
Makes me wonder if you understand that if they have the feature turned on then they need to support it with additional hardware, software, and ongoing tech support.
Even if it was as simple as turning it on, they would need to support people complaining about reception since phone sizes are not great for FM antennae (which they most likely don't have). Then they would need to support people who complain about signal quality since FM is not a work/not work situation like digital. Don't even get me started on the confusing FM HD weirdness. Oh, then they need to have an app built in that people can ignore because they didn't spend any money on it like their other terrible default apps.
Considering when I use the radio in the car I might get 2 songs before 5 minus of commercials, no thanks. Audiobooks, podcasts, and PlexAmp all the way
it's not about the entertainment value, but rather news, weather and other information during emergencies when your cell signal might, and is more likely to, go to shit.
I mean, just because it’s included doesn’t mean you have to use it.
Now I've got in my head "I'm on a Mexican, radio..."
Certain phones have it, but use your wired headphones as an antenna while leveraging your Bluetooth.. In Japan they had phones with TV tuners
Not my phone Mr. NHK man.
Mobile carriers are worried about "congested mobile broadband" right? Surely they'd want something like this implemented if it could cut down on peak usage and not have to force their hand to do that awful throttling they must hate so much?
only time i ever used phone FM was camping. not often lately. car has fm but radio commercials assault my nerves, use mp3s on a stick or streaming w/$10/mo
Phones still do. Xiaomi phones for example.
Almost any mid-range phone with headphone jack
Coming late to this part but Umidigi phones still do FM radio and don't even require headphones to be plugged in any more.
With all the blackouts I had these past 2 years, YEA PLEASE. Hell, I was a out to relearn how to make a homemade AM radio. Haven't done it in 28 years.
The last couple major power failures we've had in my area, information was by far the most difficult thing to come by.
The power goes out, and shortly thereafter so does cable internet. My UPS usually keeps my cable box up longer than the service itself lasts. That puts everyone on the cell network, which is immediately overloaded. So the internet is essentially worthless during most hours.
FM radio stations are similarly worthless. I remember a power outage last winter where there was going to be a press conference, I think the governor was going to talk about something...couldn't get coverage. The local FM station was up and running, they were broadcasting just fine, but they were trying to patch into the press conference via Facebook, and the internet wasn't up to it. They apparently don't have their own radio uplinks anymore.
The local television station would have been more help...if I could get an antenna high enough to hear it.
And during normal business hours most broadcast FM stations are IHeartRadio transmitting the same 20 songs intercut with the same 90,000 advertisements. Or broadcasting The Two Retards Named Chris show three times a day.
Fun fact: almost every phone on the market has the hardware. It's just drivers/software that are missing (and, more recently, the antenna's been unavailable with the removal of the audio jack. The radio chip is still in there though)
Well, thinking about it like that really puts things in a new perspective.
Even most cheapo mp3 players have this functionality built in
I miss when MP3 players were popular. There was a lot more variety in consumer tech before 2013-ish
I love my Surfans F20 got it 3 years ago and its still going strong after quite a few drops and nicks. I wish they made a updated usb-c version but otherwise as a big music guy that hates music streaming, downloads everything, and prefers the convinence of a dedicated digital audio device its just awesome.
That thing looks old as hell in the best possible ways haha, I love it
That thing looks super nice!
Looks vaguely like the older Zunes
Why? My country doesn’t even have FM anymore. It shut down in 2017, frequencies repurposed for more useful things.
It’s an almost 100 years old technology..
Norway?
How's the DAB+ coverage now? I've heard some ugly stuff about it before when the switch happened.
I'm sad that my Asus Zenfone 9 (it has a headphone jack) can't get FM radio. The app I use (NextRadio) can't detect a FM tuner on the phone.
You might like radiogarden! It pulls streams for any radio stations that clone their feed online. You won't get everything but you have the option to listen to radio from anywhere in the world!
Every phone I had that did this also used the wired headphone cable as an antenna. Personally I do like Bluetooth on the go (for casual listening only), so I'm not actually sure it would be usable unless the phone had a separate antenna.
This is still a feature in some major brands though. I have a Moto g power from a relatively recent model year and it comes with a built-in FM Radio app that uses wired headphones as an antenna. It also still has a headphone jack so I don't know how indicative it is of the broader US market.
No thanks. I listened to radio the other day (not in my car) and it was all ads and a shortened version of a song so they can do more ads.
I didn’t realize radio got so bad.
Bring back PTT! Miss my Nextel.
I just looked, the app I used to use for a Nextel replacement still exists, it's called Voxer. Cannot speak to it's quality anymore but I did use it a lot back in the day.
So glad that mine does.
FM radio is the one feature removal I don't mind. You can access all radio on the internet now, so it's unnecessary anyway.
And when the internet goes out during a hurricane? Thats a thing
Better would be to have an emergency radio receiver with alternate power (e.g., a hand crank), and save your phone battery for outgoing emergency calls.
This is something I currently have, but there’s a few benefits of having it built into the phone:
One problem with relying on a phone to receive emergency FM broadcasts is that the phone usually needed wired headphones to be connected to use as the FM antenna.
Most smartphones today don’t even have a headphone jack. Even if they did bring them back, many people have embraced wireless headphones/earbuds and so wouldn’t have any wired ones to hand during an emergency.
There are possible ways to have an integrated FM antenna but it would have greatly reduced range - so not great in an emergency either.
I'd rather a wind up radio for emergencies as opposed to wasting the battery life on the one thing I can use to call for emergency services.
Edit: also, who uses FM in emergencies. You want AM radio for that.
It doesn't have to be a big emergency, FM can still be very useful. A few years ago there was an earthquake in my city that wasn't too big but we still had to evacuate the building. I don't remember any damage in my area but because everyone was trying to make calls there was ZERO cell service. So a bunch of people were gathered around my phone listening to a news station for updates because I was the only one who had brought headphones. Without FM this ability is now lost.
You are right, depending on the emergency AM is a better choice. Many people have phones, few have crank radios.
The one headphone adapter I have doesn't seem to work, and I don't think there was one with the phone. Finicky is probably right!
Mine still does. puts on shades
One of the reasons why I picked the Xiaomi Poco X3
FM was switched off in 2017 (Norway), but a DAB chip would've been nice.
So, what, we're just going to carry around USB antennas now?
A lot of phones already have the capability to recieve broadcast band FM, the type and electrical length of the antenna matters a lot less when you're just receiving signals.
I already do, sort of. RTL-SDR
No better way to drain phone battery. Also doubles as a hand warmer.
You do SDR on your phone? The last time I played with one of those dongles was like a decade ago and mostly I used it to check out NOAA satellite data and eavesdrop on air traffic control at the local airport.
I wonder how useful that would still be to keep tabs on the local pigs during the protests the next time they murder someone?
This 2022 Nokia has an FM radio. I had a look at the app and it says 'Please plug in your headset to tune'. It's not impossible that the USB C port is wired so wired headphones plugged in through an adaptor act as an aerial I suppose.
Yes they do, and it's amazing to "tune the radio. Those wires are soo finicky you can hear high school physics!!! Not sarcastic btw. I really do enjoy those damned finicky cables xD
My phone has an FM radio.
I've listened to it in long international flights just to see how things change.
other than that it serves no purpose whatsoever.
I suppose it could be useful in an emergency but I'd bet just having cell seryqould fair better.
Why? So I can listen to local dealership and furniture store adverts? No thanks
"My use case is the only use case in the whole world!"
Every time I get in a car without Bluetooth or an aux and have to listen to the radio, I'm quickly reminded that I'd actually prefer to listen to road noise than ads and turn it off.
I must be ootl; what’s the upside compared to Spotify ? Having to endure ads, talk-shows and other open mics while having shitty reception isn’t enticing… at least here there isn’t any station I would find satisfying content-wise; given the whole frequency assignment bullshit small stations are few and far between with nothing that would cover metal and / or frenchcore. So the small benefit of music discovery isn’t really possible anymore for me.
News during emergencies
If you can afford to pay for all that mobile data usage, and if you're walking through an area with good mobile data coverage, go right ahead.
For the rest of us, we have to suffice with saving our MP3s to an SD Card and listening that way, or using the radio, though as you pointed out radio sucks haha. But it is very low power and low barrier to entry!
What mobile data usage? I’m loading my tracks at home save a few times I browse where I have network coverage… for all intents and purposes bar the monthly tax it’s the same as my good old mp3 player. Also audio streaming isn’t exactly the most bandwidth consuming thing right ? Unless you want lossless quality but then good luck with FM radio…
What the fuck is this person smoking?
What do you mean again, my smartphone has a radio and it came out in 2019?
low end MediaTek ones often do
Bring back vinyl record players!
Why not make cases with FM radio built in?
Wdym again?