Help MONO sound only, on fm radio

[Antares99]

My galaxy s3 plays mono only in FM radio mode. It is not the headphones as it is mono with all headphones and speakers. Everything else is stereo. There are no mono/stereo settings in the radio. I cannot believe Samsung would make such a silly mistake with this Very expensive phone. Surely at least some of the 10 million galaxy customers have noticed this?????? I mean MONO in the 21st Century? Anyone know of a fix? HELP!

 

[ndh777]

Which carrier do you have? Or what app are you using? I have the S3 through Sprint and can't find a FM Radio app. I was going to pull it up and see if it was different for me or if I could find the settings.

 

[UserName872]

Which carrier do you have? Or what app are you using? I have the S3 through Sprint and can't find a FM Radio app. I was going to pull it up and see if it was different for me or if I could find the settings.

The international model has the FM antenna in it. Our US models omitted that feature.

 

[ndh777]

The international model has the FM antenna in it. Our US models omitted that feature.

Oh lol thanks.

To OP, sorry, can't help ya.

 

[VK3CRG]

Yep I most certainly noticed it. Only mono audio.

I had hoped that I could just go into the radio app menu and select FM Stereo but alas as you've found - the option is not there.

I'm assuming it's a hardware issue in that the FM radio decoder chip (or part of the chip that may have a multi-function within the handset) does not have the 19 KHz pilot tone decoder and required stereo demultiplexer / demodulator. The phone obviously has a stereo headphone amplifier. Maybe to keep the phone as sleek as possible - they decided to ditch the FM stereo function.

I agree however, that it's disappointing.

Almost as annoying as no stereo, is when you record the radio using the FM Radio App, the volume is set and you cannot adjust it! That is - if the audio coming out of the earphones is too loud for your ears - TOO BAD!

Unlike the rest of the phone, the FM radio functionality is cheap 'n' nasty!