By Didn’t know the Motorola DROID 2 had an FM Radio? Neither did I, but that trusty old group over at XDA sure did find out and they’ve found a way to port the files needed over to the phone courtesy of the Motorola DROID X. You’ll need to be rooted to unlock the functionality, but that’s a small price to pay if you’ve been wanting to listen to some of your local radio stations whilst not inside of a car.
I’m wondering why Motorola and/or Verizon decided not to activate this feature out of the box. It’s not the most ground-breaking thing we’ve ever seen in a phone, but I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who wouldn’t mind having an FM Radio at their disposal. Ah well, if you really want it, then go get it.
[via BGR]
Not so sure of all the details, but I do use TuneIn Radio (from the market) on my Moto Cliq.
TuneIn does radio via network. This is an actual FM receiver pulling sound from the airwaves, unlocked by porting the libraries and FM radio application from the Droid X.
Ah. gotcha! I had an actual FM Tuner on my last ROM I ran. Would be nice to get it back as I currently do not have it. Still find it amazing phones do not have an “automatically include this” checklist such as FM Tuners, LED Flash fro cameras, etc
I found the FM tuner in my Liberty only slightly useful. But it’s rooted now and running CyanogenMod 6.0.2.1, so no more radio. Oh well, if it worked without having to use the earbuds, I would be more upset about not having it.
I use mine on the Incredible and it works ok, not the best feature around but it should at least be an option if the hardware supports it.
FM transmitter would be way more worthwhile.
even the original droid and milestone have fm radio disable.. maybe they are expectin a new version of android..(gingerbread?)
@Steve – 100% agree. I used the FM receiver on my EVO one time. # of times I would use an FM transmitter… more than I care to count.
This ought to cheese off the NAB!
The National Association of Broadcasters is trying to push a law that will REQUIRE an FM radio on every mobile device.
http://www.rbr.com/radio/27511.html
I have used the radio on my Droid X for about 30 seconds total. I turned it on, tuned in a station, and heard a commercial. I have not used it since.
@Steve – I never even considered the possiblities of an FM transmitter. Imagine all the practical jokes one could play on their coworkers.
Could this be used for LTE? or is that something completely different?
I have a FM radio in my car, I haven’t listened to it in ages, although I guess I am glad it is there, “Just in case” ;)