Help FM Tuner

[kun817]

I'm trying to listen to radio on the new galaxy s2 but can't seem to find it. is it even available? i do not want to use my data in order to access the radio as it's goin to bite into my data limits so i would prefer using the FM tuner if it has one.

 

[SoonerDave]

According to a post in the TMobile support forums, the FM tuner for the SGS2 was removed. Don't know if I believe that entirely, but that's the "official" word at this point. That was enough for me to return mine.

http://androidforums.com/t-mobile/430281-t-mobile-galaxy-s2-has-no-fm-radio.html#post3345564

 

[Jimbo droid]

Just download one on the market do a search there's tons of music, apps

 

[sleedeane]

Just download one on the market do a search there's tons of music, apps

But no FM radio (like talk radio).

 

[John Jason]

But no FM radio (like talk radio).

I have discovered that when speaking to someone under 25 years old I must explain what a radio station is. Seriously.

 

[sleedeane]

I have discovered that when speaking to someone under 25 years old I must explain what a radio station is. Seriously.

I don't think your talking to me. I'm 50 and don't have a clue what you're talking about.

 

[kun817]

Just download one on the market do a search there's tons of music, apps

what exactly did u download? a radio app that streams?

i would have prefered a tuner so that it doesnt waste my 2gb limit

 

[John Jason]

what exactly did u download? a radio app that streams?
i would have prefered a tuner so that it doesnt waste my 2gb limit

There are lots of "radio" apps that stream, but none work like a real radio, with the exception of Tune-In Radio. Most are designed to stream only from certain servers where they have collections of popular music, not listen to radio with real humans playing the music and announcing things.

As for 2 GB, I stream a couple hours a day on average and I rarely get close to 2 GB monthly data use. One way to hold it down is to select streaming radio stations that stream at different bandwidths and give you the option of which to connect to. For example, my favorite is KQAC, which offers 32k and 64k streams. If I was afraid of hitting my data limit I'd choose the 32k stream.

 

[aylonewolf69]

There are lots of "radio" apps that stream, but none work like a real radio, with the exception of Tune-In Radio. Most are designed to stream only from certain servers where they have collections of popular music, not listen to radio with real humans playing the music and announcing things.

As for 2 GB, I stream a couple hours a day on average and I rarely get close to 2 GB monthly data use. One way to hold it down is to select streaming radio stations that stream at different bandwidths and give you the option of which to connect to. For example, my favorite is KQAC, which offers 32k and 64k streams. If I was afraid of hitting my data limit I'd choose the 32k stream.

Hi John,

I have the AT&T SGH-I777 and it's been confirmed that the FM Radio was removed for *THAT* model, so it looks like it was removed on the T-MOBILE version as well... *sigh* was really hoping to have this feature on my phone as it was one of the reasons why I wanted a Samsung Galaxy S2... Maybe it's a U.S. issue/FCC? Need to *scope* out the sprint forum to see if this is an issue for them as well...

 

[John Jason]

I have the AT&T SGH-I777 and it's been confirmed that the FM Radio was removed for *THAT* model, so it looks like it was removed on the T-MOBILE version as well... *sigh* was really hoping to have this feature on my phone as it was one of the reasons why I wanted a Samsung Galaxy S2... Maybe it's a U.S. issue/FCC? Need to *scope* out the sprint forum to see if this is an issue for them as well...

There are only two reasons I can think of for the US carriers to have removed the FM tuner. 1) Maybe Samsung made them a lower price or, 2) there wasn't room inside the case after installing the radios required by US carriers.

I live in an HSPA+42 city and I get very impressive download speeds with my SGS2 - over 20 Mbps is common and I average around 15-16 Mbps. Yet streaming radio stations still cut out periodically. Yesterday I was streaming a *local* radio station for two hours, and four times it cut out for about ten-fifteen seconds. Today I was streaming a station in the Netherlands and it was far worse.

 

[John Jason]

Just a quick follow-up. Today I noticed that Tune-In Radio had an option to turn off "select the best stream." I know the local station that I listen to a lot offers a 128- and a 64-kbps stream. When I was streaming it a couple days ago I noticed that it was using the 64-kbps stream, so I turned off the "select best stream" option before going out today. I streamed the local station for two hours and I noticed that the stream it selected this time was the 128 kbps stream. Not only was the sound a bit better, but it cut out only once for less than a second. I'm not sure if the reason for the better performance is the different stream (because that actually makes no sense), or the weather, or the phase of the moon.

 

[nsandymary]

Download iHeart radio; it works on my SGS 2

 

[John Jason]

Download iHeart radio; it works on my SGS 2

Of course it works fine, but it won't play radio stations that are not streaming on the internet.

 

[Dumberdoor]

They removed the tuner due to the radio nature of the HSPA network i think. They'll have to sort that out first before they can put it back in.

 

[ScreenFreeFM]

I've read that the T-Mobile version does not have a physical FM tuner, but I have also read that is does and that its just disable in software, so I just don't know what to believe.

There is a very slim chance then that your phone will work with my ScreenFree FM Radio app ScreenFree FM Radio but it might be worth a try. I'd be interested in the results either way.

What is the actual model number of your phone?

 

[John Jason]

There is a very slim chance then that your phone will work with my ScreenFree FM Radio app screenfreefmradio.blogspot.com but it might be worh a try. I'd be interested in the results either way.

I installed it, opened it, and tried to scan for stations. It just hung at 0%. I take that as an indication that it couldn't find an FM tuner in the T-Mobile SGS2.

What is the actual model number of your phone?

Model number: SGH-T989
Android version: 2.3.5
Baseband version: T989UVKID
Kernel version: 2.6.35.11
Build number: GINGERBREAD.UVKID

 

[ScreenFreeFM]

I installed it, opened it, and tried to scan for stations. It just hung at 0%. I take that as an indication that it couldn't find an FM tuner in the T-Mobile SGS2.

Looks like it. That behaviour (which I did not expect) would seem to indicate that it found FM software. It's not conclusive that the FM tuner is missing, just that the software which should be controlling the tuner appears to be there.

If the software was not there you would have gotten a "No Samsung FM radio found on this device. The FM radio is missing, incompatible, or disabled in hardware / software." error message.

Model number: SGH-T989
Android version: 2.3.5
Baseband version: T989UVKID
Kernel version: 2.6.35.11
Build number: GINGERBREAD.UVKID

Thanks for the info.

Just had a though. Can you try to manually add a station by using the "Add station" option from the menu in the Preset station list.

The region should already be set correctly to USA based on your timezone, but you might want to double-check that also.

 

[John Jason]

If the software was not there you would have gotten a "No Samsung FM radio found on this device. The FM radio is missing, incompatible, or disabled in hardware / software." error message.
Just had a though. Can you try to manually add a station by using the "Add station" option from the menu in the Preset station list.

I manually entered a local station. station. When I pressed on it to start it playing I got an error message "no headset installed." So I connected a set of headphones and tried again. This time the preset went green with a loudspeaker icon to the left with "sound waves" visibly coming out of it. But nothing came out of the headphones.

Then I did a Scan for Stations. The Scanning in Progress bar appeared, but stayed at 0%. I also double checked and the region was set to USA.

 

[ScreenFreeFM]

Thanks for trying that John.

Can't think of anything else, and I haven't been able to find any more useful technical info.

 

[mikereidis]

US versions of the Galaxy S/S2 have had the FM chips removed.

Some of the software to support it is still there though.

Every day now I get multiple emails where I explain this sad fact. There are at least 2 business/profit reasons US carriers do this.

I'm the developer of Spirit FM Radio: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mikersmicros.fm

 

[Maxx57]

I don't care if my phone has a tuner or not. I want an external usb or bluetooth tuner that I can plug in and use with my phone. I know I can use the Arduino/IOIO board tuner and my phone to control the arduino, but is there something that can feed the audio back into my phone through either bluetooth or better yet the USB connection? So I can just plug in my phone to the audio and video and have the tuner on my phone? I can write a custom app for my phone, I'm just looking for possible external FM tuners. I cannot imagine this has not been done yet.

If not, I guess I'll have to build it for you and me. Let me know what specs you'd like it to have so I can create the best thing for all of us.

Maxx57

 

[dupek]

Coming from HTC to S2, I am kind of missing the FM tuner, but given of how sweet this phone works, I do not miss it that much. I got to get some kind of screen protector.