OFFLINE RADIO APPS

[Phil_lavender]

Hi, I have just spent the last couple of hours trying to locate an App to be able to listen to live FM radio without the need of a data connection but I feel as though I'm hitting my head against a brick wall! I just want to listen to the radio without the worry of eating into my data allowance but it seems harder than exploring Mars!!!

Any assistance would be gratefully appreciated please

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Check out this article. Checkout the app mentioned from the Playstore It will let you know if you have the FM Radio hardware built into the Phone to let you play FM Radio and tune you'll be able to tune in withthe same app. My HTC 10 doesn't have it.

 

[mikedt]

^^^^^
For information, my Oppo R9 Plus doesn't have one either. Not a big loss, because FM radio around here sucks. Obviously if your particular phone doesn't actually have an FM radio in it, this app ain't going to work, and you will need to use data to listen radio stations.

 

[Hadron]

Yep, it's only possible if your device has the hardware. This isn't just a matter of whether the SoC has an FM tuner (many do even in devices which don't support FM), it needs to be connected up. If it isn't, no app will work.

 

[Phil_lavender]

Check out this article. Checkout the app mentioned from the Playstore It will let you know if you have the FM Radio hardware built into the Phone to let you play FM Radio and tune you'll be able to tune in withthe same app. My HTC 10 doesn't have it.

Hi & thanks for replying, I have attempted to download that App but it said that my Samsung Galaxy S7 was not compatible yet it said in the article that all Samsung Galaxy phoneso had the FM transmitter built in????
So again, I'm still without a radio, have you any other thoughts on the subject please?

Check out this article. Checkout the app mentioned from the Playstore It will let you know if you have the FM Radio hardware built into the Phone to let you play FM Radio and tune you'll be able to tune in withthe same app. My HTC 10 doesn't have it.

 

[Hadron]

The truth is that that article was simply wrong. Most likely the blogger, sorry "journalist", has failed to understand the difference between "the SoC includes an FM tuner" and "the device supports FM reception". And then they've probably assumed that everyone is in North America, where the S7 uses a Qualcomm SoC, whereas in the rest of the world the S7 uses Samsung's Exynos SoC which doesn't have an FM tuner in the first place. And since judging by your network you are in the UK you will have a Exynos version, which means it's game over.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Adding to that...

I went to the NextRadio Website and it depends on whether your carrier has turned it on of not. Here's which carriers have it turned on for the Samsung Galaxy S7.

They all appear to be US Carriers so I guess it another one of those WTF moments from our OEMs. Kind of like the Quad DAC and 64GB version of the soon to be released LG G6 that will be South Korea only.

 

[mikedt]

To expand on what @Hadron posted, Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC variant S7s do indeed have FM radio capabilities, however certain US carriers may remove or disable FM radio in their customized, locked and subsidized version S7s
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/908251

Apparently T-Mobile enabled FM radio on their S7s with an Android update.
http://www.tuicool.com/articles/R3qIRbr
The FM radio hardware is already there, it just had to be turned-on or enabled with their firmware update.

@Phil_lavender so what exact version S7 have you got there, what's it's model number, Snapdragon or Exynos, is it a carrier version?

 

[Hadron]

To expand on what @Hadron posted, Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC variant S7s do indeed have FM radio capabilities, however certain US carriers may remove or disable FM radio in their customized, locked and subsidized version S7s
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/908251

Apparently T-Mobile enabled FM radio on their S7s with an Android update.
http://www.tuicool.com/articles/R3qIRbr
The FM radio hardware is already there, it just had to be turned-on or enabled with their firmware update.

@Phil_lavender so what exact version S7 have you got there, what's it's model number, Snapdragon or Exynos, is it a carrier version?

Ah, so the Qualcomm model has the antenna connection to the SoC. That is something you can't tell from the chip pinout itself.

Phil's profile says his carrier is EE, in which case unless he's imported a US model it will be a Exynos.

@dontpanicbobby I think this particular WTF is down to the different network standards used in the US. I'm sure Samsung would like to use their own Exynos SoCs everywhere, but I believe it's easier for them to support your networks fully using the Qualcomm SoCs. This isn't a one-off marketing driven decision, it's been a constant for several device generations.

 

[mikedt]

Ah, so the Qualcomm model has the antenna connection to the SoC. That is something you can't tell from the chip pinout itself.

I guess all US Snapdragon variants are using the same logic-board type, with the necessary connections for FM radio. But certain carriers like Verizon Wireless choose to disable FM radio in their customized firmwares, presumably because they want customers to use their lucrative data plans and value added services.

Phil's profile says his carrier is EE, in which case unless he's imported a US model it will be a Exynos.

@dontpanicbobby I think this particular WTF is down to the different network standards used in the US. I'm sure Samsung would like to use their own Exynos SoCs everywhere, but I believe it's easier for them to support your networks fully using the Qualcomm SoCs. This isn't a one-off marketing driven decision, it's been a constant for several device generations.

I think basically Qualcomm owns the IP rights to CDMA/EVDO, and so Samsung either has to use Snapdragon SoC or has to license it from Qualcomm. And that mode is only really used in the US, China and Japan. In China, I'm sure any phones that are CDMA/EVDO compatible for China Telecom, they're all Qualcomm SoC.