Nokia Lumia 920 HAS an FM Tuner, It’s Just Not On.
In a recent article on Nokia conversations about how amazing the S4 processor in the Lumia 920 is, they let slip that the S4 processor in the Lumia 920 does indeed have an FM Tuner; contrary to what WP8 wants to force down our throats. In Nokia conversations post under “connectivity ingredients” the S4 is listed to carry an Fm Tuner:
Connectivity Ingredients:
4 parts LTE Multimode Modem
2 parts GPS
1 part WiFi
1 part Bluetooth
1 part FM tuner
It would seem that Nokia went ahead and included this in the 920 even though it isn’t currently supported by WP8; however should they ever change their mind all it needs is a software update and Voilà, you can rock out to your local church station. It is worth keeping in mind that Nokia did something similar with the C7, where it was made with an NFC chip which was only activated in a later update. So for all you radio fans, don’t worry there’s still hope.
Thanks for the tip UndCOVer
Category: Lumia, Nokia, Windows Phone
About the Author (Author Profile)
Heyyo, names Ali- Currently a fourth year Dental Student from Chicago; studying in Jordan. I love all sorts of gadgets almost as much as I love my cookies! (Have: Green Nokia N8, Cyan Lumia 800, Black N9, Stormtrooper White Lumia 900, Black 808 PureView, Red Lumia 920). Follow my twitter handle '@AliQudsi' - no pressure. Thanks.Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Comments (45)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
Sites That Link to this Post
- Nokia Outs Lumia 920 FM Tuner; You Just Can’t Use It | Pocketnow | December 12, 2012
- Nokia Lumia 920 is Old School has an FM Tuner Inside | Nokia Innovation | December 12, 2012
- Nokia Lumia 820 & 920 - صفحه 36 | December 12, 2012
- WPDang || Lumia 920或打破限制提供FM收音机功能 | December 13, 2012
- Le Nokia Lumia 920 a bien un Tuner FM intégré. | Nokia Day | December 13, 2012
- Nokia Lumia 920 has a disabled radio | December 14, 2012
- Double tap to wake and FM Radio coming to Nokia Lumia 920 and 820? : My Nokia Blog | March 26, 2013
I guess if all else fails there’s still TuneIn radio.
Hahaha! If this would only work reliably! OK, my internet connectivity is not the best here in Bangkok. But my N9 with a tunein based player does play my German station quite well, while it’s verrry choppy or does not connect at all on the L920. One more thing on my list of deficiencies. I can not recommend the L920 at the moment. It’s actually a feature phone with a good display and camera. I hope things change after the next update. Or even better, an alternative OS becomes available.
great news ..i read about an update coming which activates fm in gsm arena.wat about lumia 620?
According to a live stream from WP marketing employee from MS spain, Fm tuner is included in WP8 but it is up to the manufacturers to implement it on their phones. Maybe Nokia will just turn it on via future update when the app is ready.
I think it’s going to be the same as with N9. HW support is there, but it takes an update to the SW before it’s finally available.
I know that in the N9 there is HW support, but is there is a software for the N9?
yes search in store
Yes you can download radio apps for Nokia N9..I have it in my N9
They did the same with N9. Still i downloaded for free FM Radio in N9fanclub.
lot’s of free stuff there =)
enjoy!
N9, there is community support that created the FM Radio app that uses the FM chip. Poor souls using Windows, they have to look at Microsoft for it…
No, they have to look at Nokia since they simply have to write a driver and a frontend for it. It’s not the purpose of an OS to bring drivers for everything.
Actually, on embedded systems like smartphones – the OS purpose is, amongst other things, to tightly command the hardware, and that includes drivers for that hardware as well. Now, they might not have to be written directly by the OS manufacturer, but they should be included with the OS and streamlined to work in manageable symbiosis with the OS.
The question is if this applies to the present smartphones which run WinNT or Linux kernel? I don’t think so. What you describe is of no contradiction to a classical PC OS. I am not talking about a feature complete API for FM reciever which would allow easy usage among many apps.
Or some other example: Do you think Microsoft (or Google) is writing the drivers for the mobile GPUs themselves? I highly doubt that out of several obvious reasons. General interfaces and hardware abstraction layers have to be forseen but if you bake everything directly into the OS you will end up with a mess sooner or later. Your claim would contradict Microsofts aim to create as much as possible overlap between Windows 8, Windows RT and WP 8 (DirectX is one example here).
Not poor lucky souls supported by world class engineers and brnad rather than hobbyist linux craps
i was very sure untill recently they didn’t include it in their phones anymore. but some rumours on wp sites indicated that fm radio will be enabled by ms in a future update.
now include an FM transmitter, always on clock and a proper file manager.
Does any body know if it has a transmitter too?
I am not 100% sure, but I think if it has a receiver, that can also transmit… ?
+ 1
One can’t realistically imagine that Qualcomm would design 2 different S4 SoCs for 2 OSes (WP/Android). So, due to the fact that all radio ICs are integrated (and it’s the headset that plays the role of an antenna), it was natural to assume the HW’s there – unlike the LTE antenna-lacking board LG developed for the cheaper Optimus G (I’ll let you guess what that is
).
“Viola” is a stringed instrument while “Voilà” is an interjection in French.
In reference to : “It would seem that Nokia went ahead and included this in the 920 even though it isn’t currently supported by WP8; however should they ever change their mind all it needs is a software update and viola, you can rock out to your local church station.”
Thanks, did not know that; so there’s a Viola and a violin?
The viola 1] is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.
Wikipedia
“all it needs is a software update”
And maybe an antenna. Those are quite important too.
Usually a plugged in headset’s cord serves that function, no?
That’s the idea, but has anyone confirmed that the FM tuner in the S4 chip is connected to the headphone socket? You can’t just put one next to the other and expect them to work like NFC pairing.
No, and antenna means you can broadcast your own music from your phone to any FM radio source, you just set the frequency and match it with the radio station. I do this all the time with the works vans, ideal if there are no phono ports.
Although it sounds funny when you use it, “viola” is not a word – it’s a cheese brand.
does anyone know if the 820 has an fm tuner?
thats another plus for buying the 920
So they are waiting on Microsoft to figure out how to turn this thing on ?
another example of…
And Lumia 820 too?? it should be finally the perfect handset: micro sd+fm tuner
The 820 has the same hardware as the 920, so yes.
Also, the Viola thing:
Viola is a classical stringed instrument that fits to fill the midrange of sound between the Violin and the Cello, with the Contra bass or Double Bass filling the low end.
all are originated from the Viol de gamba.
IT NEEDS FM TRANSMITTER.. PLAY MUSIC ON MY CAR WIRELESSLY
FM Radio is not delivered by MSGT because they didn’t have time to implement it on WP8. It is not NOKIA option not to offer it. Nevertheless the HW on all Lumia WP8 devices includes FM radio chipset.
It is up to MSFT to offer it although it seems not be in the schedule up to Q3/2013……
N95 accelerometer all over again. Although in this case they have something of an excuse.