Droid Includes FM Receiver and Transmitter

bigbill25 · Dec 14, 2009

I was looking for some information on the TI processor in the Droid when I came across the information for the WiFi/Bluetooth chip in the Droid, the TI WL1271. Check out it's info here:

Mobile Wireless LAN - WiLink 6.0 Solutions

It says "provide FM transmit and receive functions to turn the handset into a personal area broadcast device"

So, why don't we have transmit/receive functions on our phone?

Another feature the WL1271 has is support for 802.11n. Why don't we have that, too?

--Bill

Telexen · Dec 14, 2009

Wow...maybe they don't have the kernel support for it yet?

tsaunders · Dec 14, 2009

Now that the phone has been rooted, maybe someone can figure out how to enable all of this stuff.

Gunner · Dec 14, 2009

That would be nice to be able to broadcast the phone audio straight into my car receiver w/ no wires.

tsaunders · Dec 14, 2009

Gunner said:
That would be nice to be able to broadcast the phone audio straight into my car receiver w/ no wires.

I didn't even think of that. This way I wouldn't have to buy a bluetooth to fm for my car -

I wonder if they left the parts in tact or took out the FM transmitter.

Legacystar · Dec 14, 2009

Would this meen we could tune into local radio stations?

tsaunders · Dec 14, 2009

Legacystar said:
Would this meen we could tune into local radio stations?

I am hoping so. If will be rooting my phone if someone figures this out. Has anyone brought this up on other forums?

messenger13 · Dec 14, 2009

Gunner said:
That would be nice to be able to broadcast the phone audio straight into my car receiver w/ no wires.

Ugh! No thanks! Until I get a BT receiver for my car's aux port, I'll put up with the cable. But FM transmission? That truly IS the worse case scenario. I'll take a cable over that ANY DAY.

Frankly, I can think of no use for the "FM transmit and receive functions", unless someone can actually think of something that's really cool. But radio? That's what Pandora replaces.

tsaunders · Dec 14, 2009

messenger13 said:
Ugh! No thanks! Until I get a BT receiver for my car's aux port, I'll put up with the cable. But FM transmission? That truly IS the worse case scenario. I'll take a cable over that ANY DAY.

Frankly, I can think of no use for the "FM transmit and receive functions", unless someone can actually think of something that's really cool. But radio? That's what Pandora replaces.

Some of us still like Radio. There are a few I like to listen too in the morning, sure some have internet broadcasts.

Also the FM would be nice, one less thing I need to buy -

Legacystar · Dec 14, 2009

the station i like is on flycast but it's not working on the droid yet

so till then FM would be nice.

eclipsed4utoo · Dec 14, 2009

messenger13 said:
Ugh! No thanks! Until I get a BT receiver for my car's aux port, I'll put up with the cable. But FM transmission? That truly IS the worse case scenario. I'll take a cable over that ANY DAY.

Frankly, I can think of no use for the "FM transmit and receive functions", unless someone can actually think of something that's really cool. But radio? That's what Pandora replaces.

Using the FM transmission to send the music to my receiver in my car is what I want. Would love to not to have to buy a bluetooth receiver just to do this if the phone's hardware supports it.

FM transmission works fine, as long as you find a good station. There is a great station in South Carolina that I use for most of my travel around the state.

jeepguy_1980 · Dec 14, 2009

messenger13 said:
But radio? That's what Pandora replaces.

When did Pandora start broadcasting local news, sports, and other talk radio?

Gunner · Dec 14, 2009

messenger13 said:
Ugh! No thanks! Until I get a BT receiver for my car's aux port, I'll put up with the cable. But FM transmission? That truly IS the worse case scenario. I'll take a cable over that ANY DAY.

Frankly, I can think of no use for the "FM transmit and receive functions", unless someone can actually think of something that's really cool. But radio? That's what Pandora replaces.

Guess I don't follow. I would love to be able to send audio from phonecalls, navigation, music, etc from the Droid to the stereo of any car that I get into. No wires, no BT equipment, no BT setup required. Just get in and go.

JRSly · Dec 14, 2009

messenger13 said:
Ugh! No thanks! Until I get a BT receiver for my car's aux port, I'll put up with the cable. But FM transmission? That truly IS the worse case scenario. I'll take a cable over that ANY DAY.

Frankly, I can think of no use for the "FM transmit and receive functions", unless someone can actually think of something that's really cool. But radio? That's what Pandora replaces.

Not all of us are lucky enough to have a car with an AUX input, aren't quite passionate enough to shell out for a brand new stereo, but still enjoy having their music in the car...so FM transmission is the best choice. And like Gunner said, if you travel and rent cars, find yourself borrowing a car...it's very convenient.

But, on the subject at hand...I'm no hardware expert, maybe things like this are discovered often..but what reason could there be for having hardware mysteriously included like this with no attention brought to it by Motorola or Verizon?

tsaunders · Dec 14, 2009

I am going to have to post this over at another forum and see what they say.

bigbill25 · Dec 14, 2009

JRSly said:
But, on the subject at hand...I'm no hardware expert, maybe things like this are discovered often..but what reason could there be for having hardware mysteriously included like this with no attention brought to it by Motorola or Verizon?

I've wondering that myself. Maybe they didn't want to connect the FM antenna, or couldn't get decent reception/transmission within the case. FM signals, operating at much lower frequencies than the cell signal, require a much longer antenna.

If you check out this PDF diagram, our processor also can support composite and HDMI output:

http://omapzoom.com/OMAPzoom2-system_block_diagram.pdf

Not only could the Droid challenge the iPhone, it could have trumped the Zune HD with 720p HDMI out

--Bill

tsaunders · Dec 14, 2009

I remember hearing that the Droid will have HDMI out.

Big Screen Gaming: ODROID, Android & HDMI Out | Android Phone Fans

Gunner · Dec 14, 2009

JRSly said:
But, on the subject at hand...I'm no hardware expert, maybe things like this are discovered often..but what reason could there be for having hardware mysteriously included like this with no attention brought to it by Motorola or Verizon?

I'm guessing the code isn't worked out in Android to take advantage of it, but I really don't know.

That and Moto/VZW would rather sell us BT car kits.

Howie · Dec 14, 2009

Gunner said:
I'm guessing the code isn't worked out in Android to take advantage of it, but I really don't know.

That and Moto/VZW would rather sell us BT car kits.

They would also rather sell us memory cards for higher prices than other stores sell the same thing, or charge us for navigation services. But, surprisingly they gave both of those with this device. I wonder if that is just a limitation of the kernel (for now), like you said.

We can hope that one day it will actually come

barry99705 · Dec 14, 2009

tsaunders said:
I remember hearing that the Droid will have HDMI out.

Big Screen Gaming: ODROID, Android & HDMI Out | Android Phone Fans

Uhh, that's a completely different device.

jleejordan · Dec 14, 2009

messenger13 said:
Ugh! No thanks! Until I get a BT receiver for my car's aux port, I'll put up with the cable. But FM transmission? That truly IS the worse case scenario. I'll take a cable over that ANY DAY.

Frankly, I can think of no use for the "FM transmit and receive functions", unless someone can actually think of something that's really cool. But radio? That's what Pandora replaces.

guys, he is absolutely right. fm transmission is the best way to ruin your sound. works fine for phone calls is you don't mind it sounding like a cell from 1995, but music ????? no way. there's just no way the signal would be strong enough to sound decent. the very best fm transmitters i've heard for ipod/zune sounded like i turned the bass half way down and yanked the balls off the guitars. bluetooth doesn't even sound as good as running cables. i am a studio engineer, among other things, and i can tell a pretty significant sonic difference. if you like AM radio ... then feel free to get your hopes up.

bigbill25 · Dec 14, 2009

jleejordan said:
guys, he is absolutely right. fm transmission is the best way to ruin your sound. works fine for phone calls is you don't mind it sounding like a cell from 1995, but music ????? no way. there's just no way the signal would be strong enough to sound decent. the very best fm transmitters i've heard for ipod/zune sounded like i turned the bass half way down and yanked the balls off the guitars. bluetooth doesn't even sound as good as running cables. i am a studio engineer, among other things, and i can tell a pretty significant sonic difference. if you like AM radio ... then feel free to get your hopes up.

Yes. I know it will sound like crap, but if you're in a friend's car and you want to play a cool song/run Pandora/run Last.fm/Put the navigation through the speakers/use Google Listen, how are you going to do it?

Also, the FM receive function would be great for listening to general radio, or in the gym where they have TV's broadcasting audio on FM...

--Bill

JRSly · Dec 14, 2009

jleejordan said:
guys, he is absolutely right. fm transmission is the best way to ruin your sound. works fine for phone calls is you don't mind it sounding like a cell from 1995, but music ????? no way. there's just no way the signal would be strong enough to sound decent. the very best fm transmitters i've heard for ipod/zune sounded like i turned the bass half way down and yanked the balls off the guitars. bluetooth doesn't even sound as good as running cables. i am a studio engineer, among other things, and i can tell a pretty significant sonic difference. if you like AM radio ... then feel free to get your hopes up.

Again, it's not always a choice. Of course, no one would choose the lowest quality method if they had all the options in the world, no one is trying to say FM transmission is better than wired, that would be idiotic. I think most people here are familiar with FM transmitters and what they sound like and find it acceptable, and are commenting in this thread because they think it would be nice to have one less piece of equipment in your car to fuss with.

jleejordan · Dec 14, 2009

bigbill25 said:
Yes. I know it will sound like crap, but if you're in a friend's car and you want to play a cool song/run Pandora/run Last.fm/Put the navigation through the speakers/use Google Listen, how are you going to do it?

Also, the FM receive function would be great for listening to general radio, or in the gym where they have TV's broadcasting audio on FM...

--Bill

this is all true. i just don't want to sift through 2580 threads about "why does the fm tranmission sound so bad" when/ if this finally comes to fruition. people tend to get irrate when the droid doesn't perform like skynet.

jleejordan · Dec 14, 2009

this is just my opinion, but i think it's a shame to buy a rocket ship of a phone and settle for lack luster sound quality because of fm transmitters. i tried this with my old omnia, which sounded horrible anyway, and was absolutely never happy. you can buy a kenwood deck from walmart for $68 that has a front aux input and not have to worry about it anymore .... you'll spend about $100 to buy the deck, harness, and mount (if needed). keep in mind, you sold your soul for 2 years AND paid 200 for the phone .... use the rebate wisely.

Droid Includes FM Receiver and Transmitter

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