FM radio for iPhone!, FM radio for iPhone!

I would like the FM capability to listen to live ball games on FM which are blacked out on streaming radio services.

The alternative would be MLB.com. Does anyone know the cell data usage hit from listening to a game on MBL.com (for when no wifi is available).

Your "request" for FM radio in the iPhone to bypass MLB games blackouts makes no sense. The radio receiver would be subject to local broadcast blackouts.

I'll clarify. The local broadcast is NOT blacked out. But the MLB license to broadcast does NOT allow it to be streamed. On iheart, I hear alternative, prerecorded content on the same radio during a game.

I CAN pay $20 to get MLB at Bat and listen to that via streaming, but I am concerned about my cell data hit (plus don't want to pay $20 locally when I can get for free. I'd feel differently if I wanted to watch my favorite team from a different city).

modular747 wrote:

Your "request" for FM radio in the iPhone to bypass MLB games blackouts makes no sense. The radio receiver would be subject to local broadcast blackouts.

Not sure about your area, but pro baseball games are always on local radio, even with the most meager of attendance.

Radio is almost never blacked out, and would definitely not consume any data. 😉

One alternative to no FM on my iPhone is the MLB at Bat app which broadcasts/streams all games thru the iphone app for $20/season.

But I don't know what the cell data usage would be for that app. If anyone has experience, I'd appreciate hearing it. I'm guessing it's similar to the cell data usage for radio streaming apps - but I don't know that either.

My solution for now is my Zune HD which I dug up.

Thanks!

Your guess is correct, it will be the same as Pandora or any other streaming app.

I just podcast shows I like to listen to

Griffin Navigator is a nice product that works on iPhone 4S and less which allows you to actually listen to FM radio with your iPhone with no Data usage. Only downside is that it can't be used to answer calls. But other than that since Apple doesn't appear to be interested in allowing the activation of the embeded FM receiver, the Griffin dongle is the next best thing if you don't plan on buying a seperate portable FM receiver.

Jeff_B_ wrote:

Apple doesn't appear to be interested in allowing the activation of the embeded FM receiver

Becasue the device is not designed for it. I'm still not sure why the (very) vocal few are so upset that Apple has never offered (or even hinted at) FM Radio. Are they just as upset with Samsung for turning it off on their new phones?

But, the Griffin Navigator, as has been mentioned numerous times already, does exactly what everyone is complaining about.

Buy a $5 radio at Walgreens and be done with it.

Don't understand all the antagonism to adding a simple feature to iPhone. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it, just ignore it - it will not influence on functioning of your phone in any way. There were many features I didn't use on iPhone, but I understand that there are people who find it useful and I don't complain about it.

I'm listening a FM radio at work all the time. I also listen to music while traveling by public transportation, at the gym etc.... I cannot listen to online streaming over internet due to a very strict network policy of my company, this kind of traffic is blocked. I also don't want to spend my 3G data, because I have a limit of 1GB and I listen to music for at least 8-9 hours a day.

Why would I pay for a cell data usage if FM radio is free to use? Signal reception is excellent, better than online streaming which I listen at home (which gets blocked every now and then), and there is no delay.

I have an iPhone 4 (no I didn't buy it myself, I got it from my company) but I don't use it for only one reason - it doesn't have a FM radio. Otherwise I would use it, because honestly, I like it more than my Android phone I'm using at the moment.

Maybe in USA FM radio is not popular, but Apple devices are sold all over the world, and in the rest of the world FM broadcasting is not going away. I guess Apple is not targeting only USA customer's needs, so why not add this simple feature which would make this phone even better.

Yes I can buy a FM radio receiver as a separate device, but as far as I know smartphones are supposed to be multifunctional - that is why we are buying them, to have several devices in one! It can replace camera, mp3/mp4 player, it has many applicatiions to replace computers in some simple tasks, so I don't want to carry arround an extra device if I have a smartphone which can do the same work.

I can see that you are not interested in FM receiver and don't find it useful, but try to understand that there are lots of people in many different situations than you; no 3g signal, no internet (or blocked behind a proxy, like me), no available memory space on the phone etc. which would like to listen to a radio and which would really like to have this feature, so why not to add it to iPhone?

I'll tell you exactly why there is so much antagonism about a non-existant feature. First, you don't know how to read a thread before posting your comments, which have been answered over and over again..Where to begin...

There were many features I didn't use on iPhone, but I understand that there are people who find it useful and I don't complain about it.

This is not a feature of the iPhone. It never has, and never will.

<blah, blah, my example is why they NEEEED Fm Radio>. Signal reception is excellent

No it isn't. There has NEVER been an FM antenna on the iPhone to see if the signal is exellent or not. This is simply an assumption based on nothing.

I have an iPhone 4...but I don't use it for only one reason - it doesn't have a FM radio.

That's right, Stick it to The Man. Greedy businesses. Brilliant.

Listen...I know you WANT FM radio, and you people all THINK that ALL amartphone BESIDES the iPhone have FM radio...But they don't. Not anymore. You have two or three choices now. Maybe a couple more overseas. Samsung has turned off FM radio on their phones.

IT DOESN"T WORK PEOPLE. Have you thought that yet another antenna besides LTE, Edge/2G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc... has ANY problems with FM radio reception or that they have interference cause BY FM radio?

Everyone here seems to think they know better. If you know better, you shouldn't have bought an iPhone, #1. #2, go work for Apple, since you are obviously a better engineer than every other cellphone manufacturer on the planet.

This is the dumbest non-issue I have ever seen. a $10 FM radio that you can carry ON your ear will last longer and provide better reception than ANY smartphone.

If your response is "But I'll forget it", then that means FM radio is not that important to you. "But I have to carry around another thing", then that means FM radio is not that important to you. Buy two, one for home, one for office. "but...but...." You're making up obsucre situations to try to prove a point. Stop. Grow some stones and resolve your own grown up problems before complaining about nothing.

Why you want to argue for a feature that will never happen, I'll never understand. You have been given reasons for why, and sollutions to resolve your issues. But you don't LIKE the solutions given. That's the antagonizing. So you continue to argue why it's better if they did. No one said it's not better if they added radio. They said it won't happen. If you don't like it, wonderful, go let Apple know. http://www.apple.com/feedback

We are unable to help any further besides continuously repeat the same things over and over and over again. The same comments and goofy excuses and examples will continuously be met with the same comments..maybe in caps next time. Get over it and find a resolution to your dilema yourself.

I'll tell you exactly why there is so much antagonism about a non-existant feature. First, you don't know how to read a thread before posting your comments, which have been answered over and over again..Where to begin...

I read the thread and I don't really see any good argument why not to use fm receiver embedded in a smartphone.

This is not a feature of the iPhone. It never has, and never will.

Yes, I'm pretty aware that it is not an iPhone feature, which has nothing to do with the sentence you quoted....

No it isn't. There has NEVER been an FM antenna on the iPhone to see if the signal is exellent or not. This is simply an assumption based on nothing.

I was talking about a FM radio I'm using now, on Android phone.

That's right, Stick it to The Man. Greedy businesses. Brilliant.

This was not my point at all. I don't think Apple is greedy. I just pointed out how apple is losing customers for such a goofy reason. As I said: I like iPhone and I would like to use it....

IT DOESN"T WORK PEOPLE. Have you thought that yet another antenna besides LTE, Edge/2G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc... has ANY problems with FM radio reception or that they have interference cause BY FM radio?

Yes this is true, there is always a possibility of interference when you have such devices, but this problem is not strictly related with FM receivers, but can occurr with any of the above listed. That is why there are radio frequency ranges reserved for different types of devices. FM radio spans from 87.5 MHz to 108 MHz, WiFi is 2.4 GHz, GPS has several frequencies reserved (all above 1GHz) etc. This is not an unsolvable problem, evidently, since there are so many antennas embedded in iPhone already. As I said, am using FM radio on another phone and I had no problems with reception.

I'm not here to argue, I just explained my reasons why I would like that Apple adds FM radio to iPhone. It is their decision whether they want to do it or not....

But claiming that "It never has, and never will." is really not an argument for any business decision.

Business decisions could be any number of reasons.

• Apple's market share would increase by Zero if they added an FM antenna.
• The R&D cost to make an FM receiver/antenna combo which would work as expected in this particular device far outweighs the projected increase in sales.
• The user experience may not be the best for the end customer and cause more expenditures in support, repairs and warranty claims than the inclusion would justify.

Does that help? Or do we now wish to argue the arguments? Please, explain to me this.... If it was easy to include in the existing iPhone design, cost very little to include it, did not interfere with any other equipment, and the end user experience was flawless...why WOULDN"T they have included it? because they didn't wanna? Because they don't care about the customers? Seriously....just think about it. Would it be nice to have? Sure. Even I would use it on a regular basis. But it's not. Do I need it? No. If having FM radio on a smart phone is a requirement I would look to a different manufacturer.

Why are other manufacturers disabling it on their devices now? Because they don't care either? Because it works great? I know...I know..."But it DOES work great on MY <other smartphone>." Then keep using whatever phone that fulfills your requirements. It's a very simple consumer based decision.

And I said nothing about the frequency range they use being a hinderence. I said interference. Plugging in a new ethernet cable into an existing hub can make a stand-alone, tabletop FM radio's signal go out of wack 10 feet away.