Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
A whole house generator is about $2500+installation for a 10 KW genset. That's 3.5 iPhones 8s for the generator...if you can afford an iPhone and live in a hurricane area you had the discretionary income to afford one over time.
But those with emergency radios or smartphones with FM enabled, and a lot of folks have them, could still stay abreast of emergency alerts, tornado warnings, and the latest status on the hurricane itself. Almost every smartphone already has an FM radio built-in, tho Apple has chosen to disable theirs. Yes your iPhone already has FM capabilities. AFAICT it would not cost Apple anything more to leave it as a working chip rather than disabling it.
This is false. Typically you use headphones as the antenna.
What's false? Nokia figured out how to do without one years ago. You really think technology has gone backwards since then and Apple couldn't figure it out too? While it is typical for manufacturers to take the cheaper route and let the user rely on wired headphones it does not need to be done that way. http://news.softpedia.com/news/5030-the-First-Nokia-with-Built-In-Radio-Antenna-Unveiled-106516.shtml
If you live in a hurricane prone area, you should have a hand crank emergency weather radio. How would people in Puerto Rico be powering their iPhones to use as radios when they are mostly without any power anyway? These little radios can be had for like $20 now and they have flashlights, radios, can even crank to charge your smart phone. I guess Apple should also make a crank accessory? Pai is such an idiot.
Agreed. I live in a hurricane prone area and have gone thru some. Cell phone is useless when the power is out for days on end. Hand crank radio worked perfectly. I’d rather save the limited phone power for texts, assuming towers online.
I'm sure you figured out you can charge your phone from your vehicle.
If you live in a hurricane prone area, you should have a hand crank emergency weather radio. How would people in Puerto Rico be powering their iPhones to use as radios when they are mostly without any power anyway? These little radios can be had for like $20 now and they have flashlights, radios, can even crank to charge your smart phone. I guess Apple should also make a crank accessory? Pai is such an idiot.
Agreed. I live in a hurricane prone area and have gone thru some. Cell phone is useless when the power is out for days on end. Hand crank radio worked perfectly. I’d rather save the limited phone power for texts, assuming towers online.
I'm sure you figured out you can charge your phone from your vehicle.
If only vehicles included radios. /s
I don't think you'll be walking out to your vehicle in blasting rain when tree branches, fence pieces and yard chairs are flying past pushed by 100MPH winds. At least I would assume you're wiser than that.
Dead of night, no porchlights, no streetlights, no moonlight, the only light a fleeting one when a transformer explodes. You can hear the wind howl, the trees cracking, unknown things hitting your home while you wait and pray that it's not accompanied by tornadoes which are far more likely to rip your roof off than the hurricane. If you've lost all your normal connections to the outside world whether by accident or ignorance that FM chip in your phone could be your best friend for a few hours.
If you live in a hurricane prone area, you should have a hand crank emergency weather radio. How would people in Puerto Rico be powering their iPhones to use as radios when they are mostly without any power anyway? These little radios can be had for like $20 now and they have flashlights, radios, can even crank to charge your smart phone. I guess Apple should also make a crank accessory? Pai is such an idiot.
Agreed. I live in a hurricane prone area and have gone thru some. Cell phone is useless when the power is out for days on end. Hand crank radio worked perfectly. I’d rather save the limited phone power for texts, assuming towers online.
I'm sure you figured out you can charge your phone from your vehicle.
Useless if your car is flooded, which happened to us with just rains last month here in new orleans, or if there are dangerous winds, debris, etc. No, there is absolutely no substitute for an emergency hand crank radio if you live in a hurricane zone. Unless you just moved there there’s no reason you shouldn’t have one in the closet. The government/Apple can’t be responsible for your failure to invest in the bare minimum of common sense.
If you live in a hurricane prone area, you should have a hand crank emergency weather radio. How would people in Puerto Rico be powering their iPhones to use as radios when they are mostly without any power anyway? These little radios can be had for like $20 now and they have flashlights, radios, can even crank to charge your smart phone. I guess Apple should also make a crank accessory? Pai is such an idiot.
Agreed. I live in a hurricane prone area and have gone thru some. Cell phone is useless when the power is out for days on end. Hand crank radio worked perfectly. I’d rather save the limited phone power for texts, assuming towers online.
I'm sure you figured out you can charge your phone from your vehicle.
Useless if your car is flooded, which happened to us with just rains last month here in new orleans, or if there are dangerous winds, debris, etc. No, there is absolutely no substitute for an emergency hand crank radio if you live in a hurricane zone. Unless you just moved there there’s no reason you shouldn’t have one in the closet. The government/Apple can’t be responsible for your failure to invest in the bare minimum of common sense.
...but Apple can be responsible for disabling the working FM in the phone you already had.
Overly simplistic request to just activate it. Like Apple could push a software update to people with no wifi or cell coverage. Even if he means in the long term, there are several reasons apple may not want to...
1. They would have to create an entire interface for the FM tuner that doesn't currently exist. In addition, they would need to optimize the performance of the stock FM tuner. Resources would need to be dedicated to this instead of something else.
2. However, the most important reason would be because the user experience would absolutely suck. There is no FM antenna and therefore would be no reception. People would blame Apple when in reality they can have very little impact on the tuner performance. Just because the chip in the phone has an FM tuner, doesn't mean it's any good to begin with. The hardware would have to be designed to use a headphone (3.5mm or Lightning) as the antenna as it was in the old iPod.Just plugging in a wire does not make an antenna. Don't know how FM signals in particular hinder cell performance, but there is a lot of concern to minimize all Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in the devices to maximize performance. So, again, hardware would likely need to be designed to implement an FM tuner.
Not so simple. As others have noted, you can buy a transistor radio for $10 or less and for a few $$$ more, a radio with a hand-crank where batteries would not even be a concern.
Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
But those with emergency radios or smartphones with FM enabled, and a lot of folks have them, could still stay abreast of emergency alerts, tornado warnings, and the latest status on the hurricane itself. Almost every smartphone already has an FM radio built-in, tho Apple has chosen to disable theirs. Yes your iPhone already has FM capabilities. AFAICT it would not cost Apple anything more to leave it as a working chip rather than disabling it. This isn't a new issue but something that's been a problem for awhile. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/phones-fm-chips-radio-smartphone/
...and no you don't need an external antenna or even a pair of wired headphones to act as one. Nokia figured out how to do it 8 years ago.
Without an antenna, you need to be very close to the FM transmitter.
The iPhone would also have to have a 2 foot antenna to receive the FM signal.
I take it you’re not a ham radio operator. Apple can cram a cell antenna inside a 38 mm phone! With proper tuning we can tune a shopping cart or rain gutter to work on HF frequencies. This used to be common during wars for clandestine operation and still used today in areas where restrictive covenants prevent visible antennas. We use antennas disguised as flag masts. I once had a bumper mounted antenna on my car that worked well on the 80 meter band. It was not a quarter wave but it worked well enough.
If you live in a hurricane prone area, you should have a hand crank emergency weather radio. How would people in Puerto Rico be powering their iPhones to use as radios when they are mostly without any power anyway? These little radios can be had for like $20 now and they have flashlights, radios, can even crank to charge your smart phone. I guess Apple should also make a crank accessory? Pai is such an idiot.
Agreed. I live in a hurricane prone area and have gone thru some. Cell phone is useless when the power is out for days on end. Hand crank radio worked perfectly. I’d rather save the limited phone power for texts, assuming towers online.
I'm sure you figured out you can charge your phone from your vehicle.
Useless if your car is flooded, which happened to us with just rains last month here in new orleans, or if there are dangerous winds, debris, etc. No, there is absolutely no substitute for an emergency hand crank radio if you live in a hurricane zone. Unless you just moved there there’s no reason you shouldn’t have one in the closet. The government/Apple can’t be responsible for your failure to invest in the bare minimum of common sense.
...but Apple can be responsible for disabling the working FM in the phone you already had.
They didn't "disable the working FM in the phone." They elected not to implement FM reception--which admittedly the chipset they use could support if they chose to implement the rest of the necessary aspects.
Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
A whole house generator is about $2500+installation for a 10 KW genset. That's 3.5 iPhones 8s for the generator...if you can afford an iPhone and live in a hurricane area you had the discretionary income to afford one over time.
Yes, you clipped of the part of my post where I said that's exactly what I have, a 15kw full-house unit, and since 2004. For anyone considering one be sure to avoid gas-powered and go for propane (preferably) or natural gas. We had let ours go unused for nearly 10 years, but 30 seconds after the power failed it kicked on automatically and ran 4.5 days non-stop, eating about 110 gallons of propane. Had I done the same with a gas-powered one it would have been a no-go, the carb surely clogged and needing a complete rebuild. (full disclosure: I replaced the old non-working starter battery two days beforehand. Otherwise nothing else.)
Overly simplistic request to just activate it. Like Apple could push a software update to people with no wifi or cell coverage. Even if he means in the long term, there are several reasons apple may not want to...
1. They would have to create an entire interface for the FM tuner that doesn't currently exist. In addition, they would need to optimize the performance of the stock FM tuner. Resources would need to be dedicated to this instead of something else.
2. However, the most important reason would be because the user experience would absolutely suck. There is no FM antenna and therefore would be no reception. People would blame Apple when in reality they can have very little impact on the tuner performance. Just because the chip in the phone has an FM tuner, doesn't mean it's any good to begin with. The hardware would have to be designed to use a headphone (3.5mm or Lightning) as the antenna as it was in the old iPod.Just plugging in a wire does not make an antenna. Don't know how FM signals in particular hinder cell performance, but there is a lot of concern to minimize all Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in the devices to maximize performance. So, again, hardware would likely need to be designed to implement an FM tuner.
Not so simple. As others have noted, you can buy a transistor radio for $10 or less and for a few $$$ more, a radio with a hand-crank where batteries would not even be a concern.
Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
But those with emergency radios or smartphones with FM enabled, and a lot of folks have them, could still stay abreast of emergency alerts, tornado warnings, and the latest status on the hurricane itself. Almost every smartphone already has an FM radio built-in, tho Apple has chosen to disable theirs. Yes your iPhone already has FM capabilities. AFAICT it would not cost Apple anything more to leave it as a working chip rather than disabling it. This isn't a new issue but something that's been a problem for awhile. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/phones-fm-chips-radio-smartphone/
...and no you don't need an external antenna or even a pair of wired headphones to act as one. Nokia figured out how to do it 8 years ago.
For any kind of range, an FM antenna needs to have about two and a half feet of uncharged coil. More is better. With the Nano, it was the headphones in a direct electrical connection through the headphone jack, and the reception wasn't great. The Nokia phones of which you speak had either a 26-inch or 30-inch coil specifically for the radio behind the battery bay.
That, and they were about 3/4 of an inch thick.
This isn't a switch to throw, like the FCC chairman said -- and given his job description he should be fully aware. If he's not, then he shouldn't have the job. To get this going, should Apple choose to do so, will need a massive re-engineering effort to accommodate an internal antenna -- and won't be backwards compatible.
Spend the $10 on a hand-crank radio. Alternatively, buy a $5 one, and $5 of batteries. If you can buy an iPhone, you can probably afford $50 for an emergency kit.
If you live in a hurricane prone area, you should have a hand crank emergency weather radio. How would people in Puerto Rico be powering their iPhones to use as radios when they are mostly without any power anyway? These little radios can be had for like $20 now and they have flashlights, radios, can even crank to charge your smart phone. I guess Apple should also make a crank accessory? Pai is such an idiot.
Agreed. I live in a hurricane prone area and have gone thru some. Cell phone is useless when the power is out for days on end. Hand crank radio worked perfectly. I’d rather save the limited phone power for texts, assuming towers online.
I'm sure you figured out you can charge your phone from your vehicle.
If only vehicles included radios. /s
I don't think you'll be walking out to your vehicle in blasting rain when tree branches, fence pieces and yard chairs are flying past pushed by 100MPH winds. At least I would assume you're wiser than that.
Dead of night, no porchlights, no streetlights, no moonlight, the only light a fleeting one when a transformer explodes. You can hear the wind howl, the trees cracking, unknown things hitting your home while you wait and pray that it's not accompanied by tornadoes which are far more likely to rip your roof off than the hurricane. If you've lost all your normal connections to the outside world whether by accident or ignorance that FM chip in your phone could be your best friend for a few hours.
Again: Why didn't you have the FM crank radio with you THE NIGHT BEFORE?
And don't tell me they were sold out. You should have purchased the FM radio months if not years ago. You live in a high risk Hurricane area. That's your fault for not being prepared, not Apple.
This is like blaming Apple that the iPhone does not have a smoke alarm and your house caught on fire but you didn't install smoke alarms.
I WAS prepared. Well prepared since this was my 5th hurricane. One of my young neighbors was not as he had never experienced a hurricane before. And yes his wife was scared to death when the house went black and phones and internet went out. They were one of the first neighbors I checked on along with two very elderly ones on my street after the sun came up and the rains tapered down enough.
Overly simplistic request to just activate it. Like Apple could push a software update to people with no wifi or cell coverage. Even if he means in the long term, there are several reasons apple may not want to...
1. They would have to create an entire interface for the FM tuner that doesn't currently exist. In addition, they would need to optimize the performance of the stock FM tuner. Resources would need to be dedicated to this instead of something else.
2. However, the most important reason would be because the user experience would absolutely suck. There is no FM antenna and therefore would be no reception. People would blame Apple when in reality they can have very little impact on the tuner performance. Just because the chip in the phone has an FM tuner, doesn't mean it's any good to begin with. The hardware would have to be designed to use a headphone (3.5mm or Lightning) as the antenna as it was in the old iPod.Just plugging in a wire does not make an antenna. Don't know how FM signals in particular hinder cell performance, but there is a lot of concern to minimize all Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in the devices to maximize performance. So, again, hardware would likely need to be designed to implement an FM tuner.
Not so simple. As others have noted, you can buy a transistor radio for $10 or less and for a few $$$ more, a radio with a hand-crank where batteries would not even be a concern.
Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
But those with emergency radios or smartphones with FM enabled, and a lot of folks have them, could still stay abreast of emergency alerts, tornado warnings, and the latest status on the hurricane itself. Almost every smartphone already has an FM radio built-in, tho Apple has chosen to disable theirs. Yes your iPhone already has FM capabilities. AFAICT it would not cost Apple anything more to leave it as a working chip rather than disabling it. This isn't a new issue but something that's been a problem for awhile. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/phones-fm-chips-radio-smartphone/
...and no you don't need an external antenna or even a pair of wired headphones to act as one. Nokia figured out how to do it 8 years ago.
For any kind of range, an FM antenna needs to have about two and a half feet of uncharged coil. More is better. With the Nano, it was the headphones in a direct electrical connection through the headphone jack, and the reception wasn't great. The Nokia phones of which you speak had either a 26-inch or 30-inch coil specifically for the radio behind the battery bay.
That, and they were about 3/4 of an inch thick.
This isn't a switch to throw, like the FCC chairman said -- and given his job description he should be fully aware. If he's not, then he shouldn't have the job. To get this going, should Apple choose to do so, will need a massive re-engineering effort to accommodate an internal antenna -- and won't be backwards compatible.
Spend the $10 on a hand-crank radio. Alternatively, buy a $5 one, and $5 of batteries. If you can buy an iPhone, you can probably afford $50 for an emergency kit.
Why would Apple have to include a built-in antenna. Don't even newer iPhones without a headphone jack include an adapter for wired headphones? It should work just as well as other smartphones with wired headphones and an FM chip that ISN'T disabled.
Apple would never do what the FCC Chairman Pai urge Apple to do! It would take away some of Apple music streaming business revenue and cellular companies data usage revenue! Apple is all about maximizing profit!
Which is why they included a mini-jack to lightning connector adapter for free. Sigh...
If you live in a hurricane prone area, you should have a hand crank emergency weather radio. How would people in Puerto Rico be powering their iPhones to use as radios when they are mostly without any power anyway? These little radios can be had for like $20 now and they have flashlights, radios, can even crank to charge your smart phone. I guess Apple should also make a crank accessory? Pai is such an idiot.
What are you, some kind of a bigot to ask people to be responsible about their own lives and stuff?
Overly simplistic request to just activate it. Like Apple could push a software update to people with no wifi or cell coverage. Even if he means in the long term, there are several reasons apple may not want to...
1. They would have to create an entire interface for the FM tuner that doesn't currently exist. In addition, they would need to optimize the performance of the stock FM tuner. Resources would need to be dedicated to this instead of something else.
2. However, the most important reason would be because the user experience would absolutely suck. There is no FM antenna and therefore would be no reception. People would blame Apple when in reality they can have very little impact on the tuner performance. Just because the chip in the phone has an FM tuner, doesn't mean it's any good to begin with. The hardware would have to be designed to use a headphone (3.5mm or Lightning) as the antenna as it was in the old iPod.Just plugging in a wire does not make an antenna. Don't know how FM signals in particular hinder cell performance, but there is a lot of concern to minimize all Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in the devices to maximize performance. So, again, hardware would likely need to be designed to implement an FM tuner.
Not so simple. As others have noted, you can buy a transistor radio for $10 or less and for a few $$$ more, a radio with a hand-crank where batteries would not even be a concern.
Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
But those with emergency radios or smartphones with FM enabled, and a lot of folks have them, could still stay abreast of emergency alerts, tornado warnings, and the latest status on the hurricane itself. Almost every smartphone already has an FM radio built-in, tho Apple has chosen to disable theirs. Yes your iPhone already has FM capabilities. AFAICT it would not cost Apple anything more to leave it as a working chip rather than disabling it. This isn't a new issue but something that's been a problem for awhile. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/phones-fm-chips-radio-smartphone/
why wouldn't you have a crank FM radio with you the night before? Its not like it was a surprise a hurricane was coming. You a couple days notice it was likely to hit.
You didn't actually read what I wrote did you? I had things covered, tho it's not cheap.
As far as "why wouldn't you buy a crank radio two days in advance": The shelves were emptied of them more than two days in advance.
You are supposed to get that stuff half a year in advance. You get it, you maintain it and make sure it works (like starting a generator once-twice a month to make sure it is alive). Getting that stuff when shit is already hitting the fan would be a bit too late.
Overly simplistic request to just activate it. Like Apple could push a software update to people with no wifi or cell coverage. Even if he means in the long term, there are several reasons apple may not want to...
1. They would have to create an entire interface for the FM tuner that doesn't currently exist. In addition, they would need to optimize the performance of the stock FM tuner. Resources would need to be dedicated to this instead of something else.
2. However, the most important reason would be because the user experience would absolutely suck. There is no FM antenna and therefore would be no reception. People would blame Apple when in reality they can have very little impact on the tuner performance. Just because the chip in the phone has an FM tuner, doesn't mean it's any good to begin with. The hardware would have to be designed to use a headphone (3.5mm or Lightning) as the antenna as it was in the old iPod.Just plugging in a wire does not make an antenna. Don't know how FM signals in particular hinder cell performance, but there is a lot of concern to minimize all Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in the devices to maximize performance. So, again, hardware would likely need to be designed to implement an FM tuner.
Not so simple. As others have noted, you can buy a transistor radio for $10 or less and for a few $$$ more, a radio with a hand-crank where batteries would not even be a concern.
Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
But those with emergency radios or smartphones with FM enabled, and a lot of folks have them, could still stay abreast of emergency alerts, tornado warnings, and the latest status on the hurricane itself. Almost every smartphone already has an FM radio built-in, tho Apple has chosen to disable theirs. Yes your iPhone already has FM capabilities. AFAICT it would not cost Apple anything more to leave it as a working chip rather than disabling it. This isn't a new issue but something that's been a problem for awhile. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/phones-fm-chips-radio-smartphone/
why wouldn't you have a crank FM radio with you the night before? Its not like it was a surprise a hurricane was coming. You a couple days notice it was likely to hit.
You didn't actually read what I wrote did you? I had things covered, tho it's not cheap.
As far as "why wouldn't you buy a crank radio two days in advance": The shelves were emptied of them more than two days in advance.
They were supposed to get that stuff half a year in advance. You get it, you maintain it and make sure it works (like starting a generator once-twice a month to make sure it is alive). Getting that stuff when shit is already hitting the fan would be a bit too late.
This is Florida, a state that hadn't seen a major hurricane event in almost 15 years.
Many of the current residents had no idea what was needed gear for one. Some only very recently moved to the state. Many are only visitors, vacationeers, or part-time residents. Some are college students experiencing life on their (kinda sorta) own for the first time in their lives. Even many longtime natives got complacent in a decade and a half of no storms.
But even disasters aside it's not unheard of for me personally to find myself in a cell deadzone and under troubling skies.
Overly simplistic request to just activate it. Like Apple could push a software update to people with no wifi or cell coverage. Even if he means in the long term, there are several reasons apple may not want to...
1. They would have to create an entire interface for the FM tuner that doesn't currently exist. In addition, they would need to optimize the performance of the stock FM tuner. Resources would need to be dedicated to this instead of something else.
2. However, the most important reason would be because the user experience would absolutely suck. There is no FM antenna and therefore would be no reception. People would blame Apple when in reality they can have very little impact on the tuner performance. Just because the chip in the phone has an FM tuner, doesn't mean it's any good to begin with. The hardware would have to be designed to use a headphone (3.5mm or Lightning) as the antenna as it was in the old iPod.Just plugging in a wire does not make an antenna. Don't know how FM signals in particular hinder cell performance, but there is a lot of concern to minimize all Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in the devices to maximize performance. So, again, hardware would likely need to be designed to implement an FM tuner.
Not so simple. As others have noted, you can buy a transistor radio for $10 or less and for a few $$$ more, a radio with a hand-crank where batteries would not even be a concern.
Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
But those with emergency radios or smartphones with FM enabled, and a lot of folks have them, could still stay abreast of emergency alerts, tornado warnings, and the latest status on the hurricane itself. Almost every smartphone already has an FM radio built-in, tho Apple has chosen to disable theirs. Yes your iPhone already has FM capabilities. AFAICT it would not cost Apple anything more to leave it as a working chip rather than disabling it. This isn't a new issue but something that's been a problem for awhile. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/phones-fm-chips-radio-smartphone/
...and no you don't need an external antenna or even a pair of wired headphones to act as one. Nokia figured out how to do it 8 years ago.
For any kind of range, an FM antenna needs to have about two and a half feet of uncharged coil. More is better. With the Nano, it was the headphones in a direct electrical connection through the headphone jack, and the reception wasn't great. The Nokia phones of which you speak had either a 26-inch or 30-inch coil specifically for the radio behind the battery bay.
That, and they were about 3/4 of an inch thick.
This isn't a switch to throw, like the FCC chairman said -- and given his job description he should be fully aware. If he's not, then he shouldn't have the job. To get this going, should Apple choose to do so, will need a massive re-engineering effort to accommodate an internal antenna -- and won't be backwards compatible.
Spend the $10 on a hand-crank radio. Alternatively, buy a $5 one, and $5 of batteries. If you can buy an iPhone, you can probably afford $50 for an emergency kit.
Why would Apple have to include a built-in antenna. Don't even newer iPhones without a headphone jack include an adapter for wired headphones? It should work just as well as other smartphones with wired headphones and an FM chip that ISN'T disabled.
It's a Lightning adapter with a digital to analog converter in it. It isn't as simple as a simple electrical connection to allow for the antenna and would require a re-work of the Lightning standard to accommodate that.
Besides, Apple has already responded. The chip in the 7 and 8 don't have a FM radio-compatible chip anyway, making most of this thread moot. See the article's update.
Overly simplistic request to just activate it. Like Apple could push a software update to people with no wifi or cell coverage. Even if he means in the long term, there are several reasons apple may not want to...
1. They would have to create an entire interface for the FM tuner that doesn't currently exist. In addition, they would need to optimize the performance of the stock FM tuner. Resources would need to be dedicated to this instead of something else.
2. However, the most important reason would be because the user experience would absolutely suck. There is no FM antenna and therefore would be no reception. People would blame Apple when in reality they can have very little impact on the tuner performance. Just because the chip in the phone has an FM tuner, doesn't mean it's any good to begin with. The hardware would have to be designed to use a headphone (3.5mm or Lightning) as the antenna as it was in the old iPod.Just plugging in a wire does not make an antenna. Don't know how FM signals in particular hinder cell performance, but there is a lot of concern to minimize all Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) in the devices to maximize performance. So, again, hardware would likely need to be designed to implement an FM tuner.
Not so simple. As others have noted, you can buy a transistor radio for $10 or less and for a few $$$ more, a radio with a hand-crank where batteries would not even be a concern.
Speaking from recent experience I can say with certainty that having FM enabled on your smartphone is absolutely worthwhile in the event of a public emergency.
With Hurricane Irma approaching early the next morning we lost power at around 11pm the prior evening. By midnight our internet service was also out. Within another hour or two cell service began failing, lost completely before daybreak. We were lucky having a whole house generator, but our neighbors, some of them quite elderly, not so much. There was no going outside to crank up even a standalone generator with debris flying through the air, blindingly heavy rain, wind gusts already exceeding 60mph. No power and no cell service in the dead of night is a bad thing...
But those with emergency radios or smartphones with FM enabled, and a lot of folks have them, could still stay abreast of emergency alerts, tornado warnings, and the latest status on the hurricane itself. Almost every smartphone already has an FM radio built-in, tho Apple has chosen to disable theirs. Yes your iPhone already has FM capabilities. AFAICT it would not cost Apple anything more to leave it as a working chip rather than disabling it. This isn't a new issue but something that's been a problem for awhile. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/phones-fm-chips-radio-smartphone/
why wouldn't you have a crank FM radio with you the night before? Its not like it was a surprise a hurricane was coming. You a couple days notice it was likely to hit.
You didn't actually read what I wrote did you? I had things covered, tho it's not cheap.
As far as "why wouldn't you buy a crank radio two days in advance": The shelves were emptied of them more than two days in advance.
They were supposed to get that stuff half a year in advance. You get it, you maintain it and make sure it works (like starting a generator once-twice a month to make sure it is alive). Getting that stuff when shit is already hitting the fan would be a bit too late.
This is Florida, a state that hadn't seen a major hurricane event in almost 15 years.
Many of the current residents had no idea what was needed gear for one. Some only very recently moved to the state.
When I moved to Oklahoma I made sure I understood what to do and was ready for a tornado. How many times tornado hit the place where I lived? 0 times.
Apple would never do what the FCC Chairman Pai urge Apple to do! It would take away some of Apple music streaming business revenue and cellular companies data usage revenue! Apple is all about maximizing profit!
Which is why they included a mini-jack to lightning connector adapter for free. Sigh...
I'm not an RF guy, but there's a hell of a lot of difference between a Lightning connection and a 3.5 mm headphone jack; I'm thinking that Lightning, a digital connection, won't pass an analog signal from an antenna.
If Apple didn't put in an FM antenna in the iPhone, then their is no possibility of adding one externally, and no turning on the capability in the modem. No story here, other than the FCC getting legislation requiring Apple to install an FM antenna and activate any FM capability in the modem
Apple would never do what the FCC Chairman Pai urge Apple to do! It would take away some of Apple music streaming business revenue and cellular companies data usage revenue! Apple is all about maximizing profit!
Which is why they included a mini-jack to lightning connector adapter for free. Sigh...
I'm not an RF guy, but there's a hell of a lot of difference between a Lightning connection and a 3.5 mm headphone jack; I'm thinking that Lightning, a digital connection, won't pass an analog signal from an antenna.
I'm buzzword compliant on RF matters -- and can confirm your suspicion that there is a giant difference.
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/5030-the-First-Nokia-with-Built-In-Radio-Antenna-Unveiled-106516.shtml
Dead of night, no porchlights, no streetlights, no moonlight, the only light a fleeting one when a transformer explodes. You can hear the wind howl, the trees cracking, unknown things hitting your home while you wait and pray that it's not accompanied by tornadoes which are far more likely to rip your roof off than the hurricane. If you've lost all your normal connections to the outside world whether by accident or ignorance that FM chip in your phone could be your best friend for a few hours.
Go propane.
That, and they were about 3/4 of an inch thick.
Many of the current residents had no idea what was needed gear for one. Some only very recently moved to the state. Many are only visitors, vacationeers, or part-time residents. Some are college students experiencing life on their (kinda sorta) own for the first time in their lives. Even many longtime natives got complacent in a decade and a half of no storms.
But even disasters aside it's not unheard of for me personally to find myself in a cell deadzone and under troubling skies.
If Apple didn't put in an FM antenna in the iPhone, then their is no possibility of adding one externally, and no turning on the capability in the modem. No story here, other than the FCC getting legislation requiring Apple to install an FM antenna and activate any FM capability in the modem