Nexus One now a step closer to FM radio support, thanks to modified kernel
By Ross Miller 
posted July 13th 2010 3:41PM
posted July 13th 2010 3:41PM
As you may or may not be already aware, the Nexus One and HTC Desire have the same Broadcom chip. Seems trivial at cursory glance until you realize the Desire has a FM radio app, which should ergo be just as feasible on the Google-branded device. Cut to xda-developers' intersectRaven, who's released a custom N1 kernel that theoretically brings life to the FM receptor. It's available to download, but as for when you'll get a chance to really use this yourself, that's entirely up to the custom ROM developers updating their respective wares. For his part, Paul O'Brien said today he's already got it working on an upcoming Froyo Sense build for the device -- hang tight, folks, it's coming.[Thanks, John]
You mean that Nexus don't have a build in radio straight from the box?
@Pipera
The chip that was picked for the Nexus One has both an FM receiver and Wireless-N capabilities, but neither were supported by the Google Nexus One team for a variety of reasons (time, funding, team size, etc).
@d3sc3nd3ncy Ok, thanks for the answer.
@Pipera
"You mean that Nexus don't have a build in radio straight from the box?"
...did you read the article? the answer to your question is clearly "No"
@d3sc3nd3ncy While strangely the EVO has the FM receiver and wireless N capable WIFI, but only FM radio works out of the box. xda has gotten N working with a slight bit of modification. Why HTC/Sprint didn't allow N out of the box is anybodies guess.
@Pipera I am more excited about the Froyo Sense port than I am about the FM radio.
@Pipera
Somehow astonishing that not only this high end device but many others too have not the same and simple capabilities as most free dumbphones.
@Pipera - FM Radio? They should change it to F'EM Radio. MEH to the dead Dinosaur!
@Pipera Who listens to FM on a phone that is connected to the internet? What a waste.
@Frankenstein Black
Are you really saying that fm radio is dead?..... What do you do in your car?
@cinematech
Tourists that can't afford a $5000 phone bill?
@jfreckles23
Well, I have an iPod video running Rockbox connected to the auxiliary input. If I drive my father's car, I connect it with usb. Simple.
@jfreckles23
listen to my zune/ipod using aux cable. Commercial free and my favorite music
@cinematech People who don't want to use up their data allowance, or leech battery life like there's no tomorrow mostly. ;)
@KAL326
Cost. Development Team size. Feature not really important (in the grand scheme). Time frame too small. Battery life/performance loss.
Those are the typical reasons.
@jfreckles23 Satelite
@jfreckles23
"Are you really saying that fm radio is dead?..... What do you do in your car?"
3G internet nearly everywhere I go = Pandora, streaming music from my home PC, LastFM, etc etc.
I haven't heard a radio commercial in over 4 months.
FM isn't dead *yet*, but it's on it's way out the door.
@cinematech At the gym I go to, they have flat screens everywhere that you can tune into listen via FM.
@d3sc3nd3ncy
@jfreckles23 I listen to podcasts. Haven't turned on my FM car radio in months. But I'll admit, now that unlimited mobile data appears to be history, that streaming audio's mobile future might have some limits. At least FM is free. My answer so far, though a bit of a PITA, is to load up podcasts at home or work. I was never happy that I had to be in the car at a certain time hear "Marketplace" or "Car Talk". Replacing FM with podcasts completely solved that problem.
@peacecrafts You have a zunepod? I thought you could only get those in China
This would be very useful. I really wish I had FM on my Droid.
@dustinface Have it on my EVO and, apart from the occasional NPR, I rarely use it...I mean, have you listened to commercial FM radio these days??!?
@CRA1G
Amen--at least 50% of commercial radio time seems to be ads/hosts incessantly chattering about inane things. The music that they do play seems to be the same playlist over and over--and over--again. I really only listen to radio for AM content: news, traffic, and the odd talk show.
If you have a good FM radio station in your area with intelligent discussion and great, fresh music--count yourself lucky!
@dustinface
I could really care less. I've got streaming internet radio that allows me to listen to NPR, local college radio, and basically a plethora of commercial-free internet stations. Oh, and Pandora, etc.
Analog FM support is rather quaint at this point.
@Mike
96.1 theProject in Atlanta is the beat radio station I've ever heard.50 minutes of music. Hosts that have good taste in music and even better senses of humor. Radio broadcasts from local places around the metro. The best morning radio show in the city and they syndicate Scratch N Sniff every Saturday
Out of DC Tampa New York Dallas this radio station is one you will miss no matter where you are. Thank god for the iheartradio app
@Mike
If you can I recommend listening to them through Iheartradio or on their site. If you like rock that is
@DefPoet
Hm I'll give it a try... if I can find a few good internet radio stations, I might be able to justify buying a data plan for my phone.
These guys should work at HTC. In that case Sense would get updated faster than the Android itself.
@Zeak
As a software engineer, I can tell you that the problem in most cases is not programmer (who actually writes the software) but the lead programmer (who is nothing more than someone who manages the project - a boss, sometimes having experience... sometimes not.).
When they tell you to get all the features you can done by a certain date, you prioritize the most important ones and do them first. Once you get close to the deadline, you start dropping features. When the project is complete, you typically move on (so you get paid).
The people who do the android development are free from this horrid cycle because: A) they are not working under a schedule (nothing is expected), B) they don't have a boss, and C) they are not constrained to a team or business (they can work with whomever they want, whenever they want, however they want until something is done).
You could take the same people, put them in suits and ties (metaphorically), and watch them fail just like the current developers do. That's my software engineering experience at least.
wow. that's pretty badass.
@webmastir
Wait until the laser beam is unlocked.
Is the Moto-Droid capable of having a FM radio?
Who else is really bumbed about not getting 2.2 today ;(
@bigmattown Was froyo supposed to be OTA'd to the Moto Droid today? I hadn't read anything about it.
@angermeans There were rumors of 2.2 starting to trickle out today, but only rumors. And this is what happens when you rely on rumors. Remember all those Verizon iPhone rumors? Yeah... not happening.
@bigmattown Pretty sure there's no FM chip in there. The TI-OMAP3430 is not like the Snapdragon which includes many functions directly in the chip (including Wifi, GPS, FM , bluetooth, etc)
I would doubt Motorola would add some cost of dropping an extra FM tuner and not enable it.
@labrat
I am seriously thinking of rooting my Droid, the only thing that is keeping me from doing it is if basic features like GPS or your camera don't work thats kinda of a big deal to me.
People say you can MOD your Droid with custom pretty much everything but what good is that if basic features don't work.
I would love any input from rooted users, to get a little more incite.
@bigmattown It does, the broadcom chip inside supports FM, but it may not have an antenna hooked up.
@bigmattown
The droid (supposedly) has the ability for fm radio, just the chip isn't activated.
I've also had 2.2 for about 2 weeks running perfectly fine with nothing wrong by running bugless beast on my droid.
Some work was done on the Moto Droid for this too as it was supposed to be theoretically possibly to support it, I'm not sure what ultimately happened there either.
I use my FM tuner on my Incredible maybe once a month. There are many better internet radio options.
I have the Desire and find the FM radio rubbish.
That's pretty impresive! What would the sound quality be like? I'm think it might be bad what you guys think?
@Megazine
Considering its the same chip as the HD2 (which has FM radio enabled by default), I would say it's absolutely terrible. You hear more static than music and when it does finally come through and it finally starts working you remember how bad commercial radio really is.
I've been following this, and I have to say: these guys are f'ing awesome. I'm also blown away that google hasn't bothered to enable this feature even months after the N1 came out. I understand it didn't sell a lot, but it would be really cool if google took care of the people that were so supportive of them making a phone in the first place. I certainly enjoy getting OS updates first, and would buy another google phone if they came out with something better.
-Taylor
@Taylor Yes Taylor
wasn't the iPhone shit on for lacking a radio? And the iPod? As if HD Radio on a Zune was a feature everybody wanted? News flash - radio is dead.
@TomSawyer
Have you ever been in the gym, and wanted to listen to the audio that went along with what was on the TV - which is broadcast on an FM band in proximity? FM is generally unnecessary, but not dead. Steve Jobs hasn't said so yet. /s
@TomSawyer So what? It is a free feature - the hardware was already there. Obviously code isn't free but google probably wouldn't have had that hard of a time making this happen - a hacker was able to do it without any info!
And radio may not be a hot feature, but its nice. I've got satellite radio and a 16GB card in my phone, but I still find myself listening to terrestrial radio in the car sometimes. I wouldn't mind having it on the go.
@TomSawyer
In the US maybe, not in other countries.
@Taylor Yes Taylor
For years I scrolled down the page thinking that your profile picture was of a goats horn. I do not know how that is relevant, but nevertheless it had to be said.