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FCC Chairman Encourages Activation of the FM Radio Receiver Built Into Your iPhone

Relentless Power said:
In fairness, your statement and question seems fart fetched.
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If you think his post stinks you can just say so.

happywaiman said:
Consider FM radio require an antenna, especially a long one, this will be the reverse of "courage"
I guess we are moving back to audio jack?
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It takes real courage for Apple to admit when they make a bad choice. They normally will just let it sit a year and then coincidentally go a different direction the next hardware revision. Compare iPod Nano 2nd gen, then "fatty" 3rd gen, then we jump to a 4th gen that reverses course to the old design.
 
Ooooh, I feel bad for those who are offended because it is Apple's right to not offer what customers pay for. You can subsidize them directly on their bank account to compensate. They're in need.
 
How is this Important? Even if the Feature is on the integrated Chip, is the Antenna even connected, on the cheep Phones it uses the headphone jack and headphone cable now the iPhone 7 is missing this (is this the real Reason Apple removed the headphone jack);)
This is Called Distraction what did he say that seemed unimportant. Didn't he want to get rid of Net neutrality?
 
I never understood why the over the air FM was not available on iPhones until now! Love this feature on my other smartphones!
 
Blackstick said:
I prefer the superior audio quality of my streaming services, minus the cost per kilobyte.
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ok, so you won´t have a problem with Apple activating that bloody FM receiver.
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sully54 said:
who listens to FM radio anymore unless they really have to?
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Hey, first-world-boy, there is much to discover outside your walled garden...
 
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A gym I used to go to broadcast the audio for TV stations over FM so that you could actually hear what was being shown on their big screen TV's. A really good idea, except that you need a device that supports FM radio to hear them.
So the smartphone makers need to understand that FM is not only used for the regular music stations.
 
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drewyboy said:
That's the apple spirit! Because I don't use feature x, it should not be available to anyone!
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It's pretty simple... if there are no options then no decisions need to be made. If decisions can be made, then there will be some who make decisions that are different than others. Those differences will unsettle many... they'll question themselves as to if they made the "right" decision. (because to them every choice boils down to "right" or "wrong")

There is safety in uniformity.

I don't embrace this philosophy myself, but it is quite common among the Apple customers that I know.
 
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"It seems odd that every day we hear about a new smartphone app that lets you do something innovative, yet these modern-day mobile miracles don’t enable a key function offered by a 1982 Sony Walkman."

Headphone jack???
 
code-m said:
So the iPod Nano has FM radio via wired headphones and the iOS devices cannot do it. What a joke.
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This whole discussion is crazy. When you design a product you create a feature set and then choose the components to best fulfil that price/performance wise. Obviously FM radio was not part of that feature set. Modern components contains a lot of functionality never used in specific products. There are surely other functionality than FM radio supported by some of the chips inside an iPhone maybe even support for RS232 serial port? Should Apple include this port on the phone just because one if the chips supports it? As many has said, just having a chip supporting FM radio does not mean it will work unless properly utilised hardware wise, it's not just a switch to flip... Unless Apple originally planned to have this feature and turned it of just before release but then there might have been a valid reason.

Finally it must be up to Apple to choose feature set of it's products.
 
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Clearly this guy must be old...next he'll want his AM radio to work on his iPhone. I for one don't need to go back to 1982. I haven't listened to an FM radio station in 10 years. I can take only so many ads and I have my fill with all the crap on the internet.
 
Smith288 said:
This dude was speaking at a broadcaster forum and mentioned FM receivers in moderns mobile devices and how he encourages them to be enabled to allow for emergencies and consumer choice. Not requiring. Not forcing by the government gun. Nope.

People are freaking the heck out over it as if he's forcing everyone to listen to Rush and Alex freaking Jones.

Get ahold of yourself people. Mercy. If the receiver can be switched on and provide usable service then there is nothing lost for the consumer. Use it. Don't use it. But the option is what matters.

And those who fear it could give more ears to opposing ideology... that's called a discussion. We used to do it a lot before 2001.
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Yeah, this is another level beyond 1st world problem. I think we need a new term for it.
 
I haven't read the article in its entirety so excuse me if this has already been answered, but do these chips support the digital radio format, or is the functionality the analog stations ?
 
MacBergin said:
Clearly this guy must be old...next he'll want his AM radio to work on his iPhone. I for one don't need to go back to 1982. I haven't listened to an FM radio station in 10 years. I can take only so many ads and I have my fill with all the crap on the internet.
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Please all of the people! FM is already built-in, enable it to work at least on earlier model with analog headphone jacks!
 
MacBergin said:
Clearly this guy must be old...next he'll want his AM radio to work on his iPhone. I for one don't need to go back to 1982. I haven't listened to an FM radio station in 10 years. I can take only so many ads and I have my fill with all the crap on the internet.
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Because an anecdotal personal case means anything to other people? Not needing or wanting some feature says nothing about that feature not having use for many others.
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rlindman said:
This whole discussion is crazy. When you design a product you create a feature set and then choose the components to best fulfil that price/performance wise. Obviously FM radio was not part of that feature set. Modern components contains a lot of functionality never used in specific products. There are surely other functionality than FM radio supported by some of the chips inside an iPhone maybe even support for RS232 serial port? Should Apple include this port on the phone just because one if the chips supports it? As many has said, just having a chip supporting FM radio does not mean it will work unless properly utilised hardware wise, it's not just a switch to flip... Unless Apple originally planned to have this feature and turned it of just before release but then there might have been a valid reason.

Finally it must be up to Apple to choose feature set of it's products.
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So what else might be needed? Do we know for sure there aren't iPhones where if that was simply enabled it would just work?
 
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Alexlfm said:
Yes, many Android phones have had this feature but their "solution" is often to use the headphones as the antenna. There are considerable issues with having the antenna in the same device when you also are transmitting on frequencies in the same relative space (FM radio is around 100 and now we have 600 cell coming on-line). It is not something that can be solved due to a little thing called physics and the properties of radio waves.
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Really now? Can't be solved due to physics? Well that little thing called physics doesn't prevent the very same phone from both transmitting and receiving on frequencies with far less separation.



MIke
 
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If the FM tuner was activated it would need an FM antenna. Things that use the headphone cord as the antenna require you to sit perfectly still for the antenna to work consistently - every step you take either causes noise or changes the amplitude of the music. Even with a proper antenna phones move a lot more, and have smaller antennas than most good radios.
 
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macTW said:
Nobody uses FM anymore. The streaming industry took music over. The only thing the radio is used for is sports and talk, which are dominated by AM waves.
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Really? I am 52 and have never listen to AM ever. Overhere everything is on FM or the internet, so this seems to be different in the US.
 
some_apple_guy said:
Seems like there are more important things to worry about than whether a phone has FM turned on or off...
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You guys completely mis the point. It is a capability that Apple actively denies you that is already built into many chipsets.
[doublepost=1487350766][/doublepost]This is the most asinine and delusional post I've seen in decades.

mozumder said:
Yah but no. FM radio should be banned, since it's been taken over by monopoly radio corporations, pushing out the same 40-year old classic rock stations and bits and pieces of repetitive and overly loud commercial pop in between blocks of advertisement.

The only reason Ajit Pai wants to enable this is so that his right-wing corporate radio buddies can force more of their garbage down people's throats.

Pull the plug on FM radio already. Its time has passed.
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