T-Mobile Galaxy S2 has no FM radio?

[John Jason]

According to Phandroid the Galaxy S2 has an FM radio:

Samsung Galaxy S2

According to posts here from prior to its release at T-Mobile and AT&T, it has an FM radio.

Note that I am talking about a real radio that receives over the air broadcasts, not an internet streaming radio like Pandora or Tune-In.

I went to a T-Mobile store today to check it out, and there was no FM radio. T-Mobile's web site doesn't say anything about an FM radio (but then, it doesn't say very much except glitz anyway). I installed an FM tuner app in the store demo and it said that there was no tuner chip in the phone.

When the Sensation first arrived I checked it out and noted that it had no FM radio, even though HTC said it did. I did not buy it for that reason, although I recently discovered that there was an update a couple weeks after it was released and now the FM radio is working. I wonder if that is the case with the Galaxy S2. Or did they really remove the FM radio for T-Mobile.

Meantime, the Amaze definitely does have an FM radio.

Does anyone know if the SGS2 for T-Mobile has an FM radio?

 

[SoonerDave]

I had the same experience you did - heard everywhere the SGS2 had a tuner, thought that was great...then, I bought one (I'm a TMo customer, like you), took it home...then realized I couldn't make it work.

Popped a message onto the TMobile support forums, and the answer from them at the moment is that the FM tuner *is physically not present* on the TMobile SGS2. Looks like AT&T has done the same thing for theirs.

Now, I don't know if the "physically not present" can be trusted entirely, because when I tried a couple of different radio apps, both detected when I had a headset plugged in (for the antenna). Maybe that's a coincidence, maybe not, don't know. My understanding is that the FM tuner incorporated into the Broadcom chipset uses some sort of proprietary instruction set, and I *think* that was the chipset TMo had to use to let the SGS2 talk to their 42Mbps network (which, in turn, led them to replace the Exynos CPU with the Snapdragon).

If the FM tuner is there, its apparently going to require a custom ROM or a formal update to turn it on, and I frankly wasn't willing to wait on Samsung to release an update based on their relatively poor support history on such things. I returned the SGS2 and picked up an Amaze, and it works perfectly. The Amaze isn't quite as sexy looking as the SGS2, but I needed the FM tuner more

Hope that helps.

-David

 

[John Jason]

Popped a message onto the TMobile support forums, and the answer from them at the moment is that the FM tuner *is physically not present* on the TMobile SGS2. Looks like AT&T has done the same thing for theirs.
If the FM tuner is there, its apparently going to require a custom ROM or a formal update to turn it on, and I frankly wasn't willing to wait on Samsung to release an update based on their relatively poor support history on such things. I returned the SGS2 and picked up an Amaze, and it works perfectly. The Amaze isn't quite as sexy looking as the SGS2, but I needed the FM tuner more

I really wanted the Amaze for the same reasons. It also has an incredible camera - best in any phone today, bar none. But it costs more and is not nearly as popular. I ended up getting the SGS2 on the local Craigslist for $480 new in the sealed box. At the moment I'm trying to get Google to sync my stuff from my old Mytouch 3G. It's taking forever. As soon as it finishes I should be able to run TuneIn Radio and take it for a spin. I'm in an HSPA+42 city and I'm hoping that the increased bandwidth will make TuneIn Radio work without cutting out all the time - really the only reason I wanted the FM tuner.

 

[John Jason]

I spent most of the day installing stuff and tweaking my new Galaxy S2, which included installing TuneIn Radio. During the afternoon I went out for a walk - just a few kilometers. I took along my Sony audiophile bluetooth headphones and listened to the local classical station's internet stream. Not once did it skip on me. But note that I am in an HSPA+42 city and Speedtest.net gives me as high as 24 Mbps down (as opposed to my old MyTouch 3G, which peaked at about 4.5 Mbps down).

Here's hoping the improved bandwidth of the Galaxy S2 will make up for the lack of an FM tuner.

 

[Texter]

I won't buy a phone without a FM tuner. Tuned in radio doesn't give me the choices I want for listening.

 

[Texter]

Hard to believe they are leaving that out of some otherwise great phones. I use the FM tuner at the gym to listen to the tv.