yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
So "Google" is going to be a manufacturer of non-Android feature phones ? LOL.

Is it coming to North America ? Motorola page only shows 4 European countries, and the UK.

They take their OTA FM more seriously in Europe, as my paid app statistics prove IMO.
[Spirit FM] xmguy:
That was a dirt cheap (so it looked) feature NON Android phone. Yeah I've noticed that UK seems to like their FM radios than US does. Strange.

Did you get my e-mail yet with the logs from my run with Spirit on the Razr Maxx? I hoping it might shed some light to some if any future for REAL FM on the Razr Maxx.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Even more so in "Europe proper", esp. Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

Not so strange, IMO. My reading is that US FM is a lot of top-40 stuff. Even here in Canada you hear the same songs over and over again on all but the college/university stations.

From my app testing I quickly became sick of it. I guess I need my own transmitter. I have an Ebay Desire HD on it's way now; hopefully I will learn to transmit. :)

Yes. That's weird that WiFi doesn't work while running my app. WiFi is normally on a different core and control path. Bluetooth and FM share a core and control path. Might be different in newer chips though, especially if there is a special "Kill FM so hacks won't work" pin there. Yes, I'm jaded now. :)

There are intriguing signs of FM there, but don't get your hopes up. As models proliferate there is an increasing trend, on both OEM and custom ROMs, to have more universal ROMs. So you will see FM related files that will only be used on the models that truly support FM. On other models, they are "vestigial". Files include:

/system/etc/firmware/fm_rx_init_1283.2.bts

/system/lib/libfm_stack.so

/system/lib/libfmchr.so ??

/system/lib/modules/fm_drv.ko

/dev/tifm

/dev/webtop/tifm

/sys/module/fm_drv

Most or all of these are from recent TI code for Bluetooth and FM.

I have an fmapp utility meant for libfm_stack.so, but it might need to be built for your specific library, Or if not it might give similar results to my app. I could send it or upload it somewhere if you or anyone wants to try it from the shell. Here's some strings and basic syntax:

Texas Instruments FM sample & testing application, welcome !

Usage: %s [ OPTIONS ]

-i, --device=hci_dev HCI device

-f, --frequency=freq Initial frequency (in KHz)

-r, --rds Turn on RDS parsing

-v, --volume=level Volume level (0-%d, default is %d)

-t, --trace=level Trace level (1-8, default is %d)

-y, --stack-trace=level Stack Trace lvl (1-8, deault is %d)

-s, --sript=file Script file for automatic tests, see below

-1, --rx Display RX command list

-2, --tx Display RX command list

-h, --help Give this help list

What's missing are the Motorola specific files that make FM work on the Droid X and Bionic. I finally also have an EBay Droid X on it's way to me, so hopefully will learn the Motorola secrets before long. But those will be the secrets of the previous generations of phones.

But I'll re-iterate I think it will go no-where. There is a "conspiracy" afoot to kill off OTA FM in North America at least.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Dagnabit !

The Samsung Galaxy Note on AT&T in the US, as well as Rogers and Bell in Canada appears to have no FM app.

And based on the lack of a usable FM chip in North American Galaxy S2's and US Galaxy S's, I tend to think the Silicon Labs chip has been yanked from the NA Notes too.

So that's 2 major OEMs that seem to be yanking OTA FM from high end North American devices at least: Samsung and Google/Motorola.

And LG is kind of iffy, and the other OEMS aren't doing too well, so I guess that leaves HTC (who isn't doing that well financially either)...

If this trend continues, prospects for FM apps are getting gray...
[Spirit FM] xmguy:
Thanks mike for looking into that. I understand about those files. Google puts them in Android as a general file for Android phones and tablets that DO have FM. But A tiny crack in a wall can always widen. Even if very slowly. I'll give you access to my FTP / Webserver on Godaddy. Then you can upload or download large files with no restrictions. Ill email you with the info. Just reply to that email with what I need to do with the TI app. Thanks!
[Spirit FM] xmguy:
As far as fm radio in general. I agree most top 40 regardless the genre. Play the same songs over and over. Luckily in my area of the US. (Tennessee) there are some lower power non college stations that play country music that airs songs that don't get much airplay or songs that were top 40 but a ways back. Sadly they currently do not broadcast online. So traditional FM radio is the only way to get these. On the same token they are about 20 miles away only putting out 1000 watts or so. Because of that its hard for phones with FM to get them unless the atmosphere is just right. Like evening as the sun sets and at night. When solar radiation as at its lowest and skywave sends the signal further than normal. Otherwise a good DX radio is needed like. Like I have a good Grundig G3 SW/AM SSB/FM RDS and a Tecsun PL-230. They both have a good FM front end for good IF filtering and preamp stages. But Spirit still can get them if the time and situation is right.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
My testing indicates no problems using the former onecosmic ROM on Galaxy S using latest RC4.2 from about Feb 11: ICS_4.0.3_MR1-RC4.2_I9000.zip

The muted ringer shouldn't be a problem. It just means that FM isn't muted until you answer the call, as opposed to when ringing starts. Presumably, if your ringer is muted, and you are listening to FM, you don't want the FM interrupted. The ICS music player does the same, except it has "hiccups" whereas Spirit keeps flowing smoothly. :)

I ran many tests, with calls interrupting FM on speaker or headset, as well as after the FM is turned off. I also tested the music player, during FM and after, with no problem.

The simplest, easiest test to reproduce is this:

- Mute ringer or set ringer volume as needed.

- Remove and re-install Spirit Feb 14/15 to ensure all defaults. Start, Allow SU and change Audio Method to GalaxyS ALSA. Ensure headset is selected.

- Reboot with headset plugged in.

- Start Spirit and run for a minute.

- Stop Spirit/FM with on screen Spirit power button.

- Call phone, answer call and test audio both ways.

- Finish call and run music player.

All the above works for me, and should work regardless of speaker or headset, or ringer volume, or changing order, or even having 2 or 3 things happening simultanaeously happening.

If you can reproduce any problem, and provide instructions to reproduce, I will look into it as long as you are using the latest release.

I guess so far, Spirit is THE FM app for ICS. :)

5.5% or 3,008 devices running Spirit Free are ICS 4.0 or 4.0.3.

8.4% or 41 devices running Spirit Unlocked are ICS.

Just the other day the last figure was 7.8% or 38.

Hopefully the Desire HD I have coming will help me crack ICS FM on the Desire line soon. Just need audio routing possibly with the right kernel, as with so many ROMs...
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
If you want good RF performance, I think the new Broadcom chips are the best: the low end BCM 4330, and probably the higher end BC 20780.

My cheapest $80 new phone has a 4330 and it can pick up RDS OK without an antenna ! It's the only one this good in my collection of 4.

The only things I hate about the phone (Galaxy gt-i5500) are the small 2.8" RESISTIVE screen, and it lags sometime. And ICS is doubtful. On CM7, low volumes are hissy, but with the stock derived MADTeam ROM, it's fine.

If you need a cheap, small phone for FM, it seems good, and I have one too so support should be decent. :) Seems to be $120 new on EBay. Note sure any US carrier carries a variant like Galaxy Ace. The i500 seems higher end.

Some newer HTC phones may also have these newer BCM chips. If you don't like Sense, that's what the ICS, CM7 and MIUI etc ROMs are for.

BTW, the majority of Android phone FM chips are Broadcom, so I will always likely support them the best, as long as they lead. For example, I created the UART mode for Broadcom. I COULD do it for TI, but there's almost no demand for it, and Motorola didn't need it, so why bother when there are so many other things to do ?
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Where did you get that information ??

That's what I've been suspecting for quite a while, but I haven't seen it spelled out as a fact anywhere.

So Google secretly sort of supports FM ? That's just adds fuel to the OTA FM conspiracy fire.

I've suspected this because I've seen SO many similarities between FM apps and APIs.

I zipped up the files I have, but it's really probably best for me to try them out on the Droid X I have coming first, and perhaps integrate them into my app as test screens. Debugging issues remotely on phones I don't have is quickly becoming a major drag on my time.

I need to move more to just officially supporting devices rather similar to ones I have. And acquiring popular phones when I don't already have a representative test phone.

I won't have time to do much remote trouble-shooting when the masses of stock, unrooted devices arrive to my app, as is needed to sustain it. I'll (hope I'll) be too busy answering silly questions and polishing the UI to "mass market" and "versus stock app" expectations. :)
[Spirit FM] J_Palito:
Yes, I think the same.

It's possible, but even though I opened my phone yesterday and fondled a little with the jack, I'm not confortable to check capacitors or the other components... :(

I agree, it seems to me quite like this, it's very cold and dry for weeks, here in Portugal and although there were no lightning, it might have been some electrostatic/electromagnetic discharge somehow picked up by the ground and amplified by the tunner.

No, no, no!! Not this baby!!!! Lol!!!
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Household static seems unlikely-ish. But plugging into a dock or headset output to an amplifier could cause a spike from an AC power line to get through.

Babies, teenagers, and the generally clueless are among those who could accidentally plug an AC adapter in.
[Spirit FM] J_Palito:
Yes, but none of them at home (yet, maybe in two years for the baby and 12 for the teenager :D) and I'm not clueless to that point either.

The amplifier could be a clue, yes, since I have a set of amplified speakers in need of some bad caps revision, but the last I plugged them, was about 1 month before. But you're right, it could be it, some latent malfunction caused by spikes on them that revealed it self weeks later during normal function, don't know...

Even so, it just crossed my mind to do one last test before quitting for good: I'll try to check the jack connections to the board, and try to trace with the multimeter and a spare audio jack how good is the mechanical connection, although the audio functions normal, but why not try it again? :D
[Spirit FM] xmguy:
No I'm quoting what you said. That some files are redundant. Making me think maybe Google adds them and then the manufactures and carriers can add FM if they desire. Then the support is there. Just let me know when you're ready to send that file. I know it would benefit if SOMETHING can be done with the Razr / Razr Maxx because of it's widespread popularity. I still know it's slim. But it's worth a shot if you can help me along with this. :) As far as the Broadcom phones. What model should I look into? Resistive for a phone only going to be used as a radio is fine. Plus $80 USD is a better price than a Droid X. I just wish I could get one of those phones that have a FM antenna built in. Because I still have to plan to use FM by bringing my modified antenna or headphones. Otherwise it doesn't work. :(
[Spirit FM] yespi:
Hi Mike,

As promised, I have done some more tests on my Galaxy S.

- When Spirit is in background and I'm reading on Aldiko, some times the audio shuts down. Then, I jump to the FM App again, and it restarts and regains the sound. If I don't do it, sound doesn't recovers.

-As comented before, when the phone is muted and I receive a call, some times I cannot ear the other part.

Thanks again :)
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Using GalaxyS ALSA, the audio libraries do not "understand" that FM audio is playing. So if no other sounds are playing, they shut down the audio chip to save power.

So I use a "trick" for this mode that can also be enabled with Debug->Silent Loop. It continuously restarts playing an audio file filled only with silence every 30 seconds.

This is an undesirable "hack" that uses some CPU time and thus battery, but it's the only way so far I've found around the problem. I will look for some other ways, but the best and most appropriate fix is audio libraries that support FM audio routing, as CM7 and stock ROMs with FM apps do.

I think your problem is that the CPU gets busy with the foreground app, the sound file is restarted a few seconds too late and the chip gets shut down. Some timing parameter changes may help.

Ah, so this is intermittent ? I only tried the ringer muted test once, since my prepaid charges 20 cents for each minute or each test that is answered. :)

I'll try changing the code so FM is muted during "ringing", even if the ringer is off. The order of audio operations may sometimes be bad otherwise.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Sometimes I have problems banging the resistive screen at bottom. :( But for relatively cheap and new the i5500 I have is a decent option for the high sensitivity. I see these on Ebay for $120, which is 50% more than I paid unfortunately.

But Droid X is much better (except sensitivity.) and cheap used, especially with problems.I saw one go on the weekend for $80, and I just bought one with a bad ESN for $102.50. X's with cracked screens or some other not too important problem can go for even less, like $40-80.

If used is OK, then there's also a large number of nice HTC products, although probably only the newer ones have that wonderfully sensitive new Broadcom chip line. I just bought an EBay Desire HD for $130. The volume up hardware button doesn't work but at that price I'm fine with it, and may be able to fix it easily anyway. I bought and returned that same phone new 10 months ago for $575 with taxes.

The Desire and the Desire HD may well have the most number of custom ROMs for any phone. So if you don't like Sense there are LOTs of IMO superior ROMs. such as CM7 and ICS test releases.

Just the other day HTC released tools to unlock bootloaders and make rooting easier. Compare that to Motorola's broken promises IMO.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
:) I was looking on Ebay for Galaxy S2 / i9100 and saw one of these Chinese visual clones for $86.39: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-colors-3-...0946775538?pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item3371743df2

There's an antenna on it, presumably for the "Analog TV" tuner and maybe the FM too. I scoffed initially, but later realised that if it uses a V4L driver, it is theoretically possible to tune to any VHF frequency for audio, at least within certain ranges. So the potentially drool-worthy radio aficionado phone might exist, albeit as a cheap Chinese phone.

And it not this model then likely some other Chinese phone. AND Tablets w/ FM and I'm sure TV too. There are MANY China market phones quite popular there that support analog TV. BTW, they are phasing out analog by 2015 and the Chinese frequencies are at least slightly different than here.

I think there's not too much awareness or interest in these phones in the richer countries my app sells in though. And the quality is very suspect at this time,

==============================================

So I'm thinking. Why the heck don't we see more TV tuners in phones in North America and Europe ?? Yeah, digital TV needs new chips but I'm sure they are out there, or would be if their was demand from manufacturers. For a long time, tiny TVs were a cool item for techies, and still are, in effect, even if that means Youtube instead of OTA TV. Yes, it would work better in metro areas, but that's where mobile Internet is too.

I'm now thinking OTA TV in cellphones is the same issue as OTA FM. Google wants you watching Youtube and reading their ads. They don't want you watching TV ads. And many (most ?) of the carriers have TV or movie services they want you using.

Versus FM, which gets very little press, there is a very clear titanic battle going on for control of that "boob tube" thing that perhaps most 1st (and 2nd?) world people have been watching for hours every night since the 1950-1960's. And it's more than that. It's TV. It's radio. It's home movies. It's video gaming.

It's Google/Apple/Microsoft/etc versus Hollywood/NBC/ABC/CBS/etc versus AT&T/Verizon/Bell/Rogers/etc, along with Samsung/Motorola/HTC/LG/Sony/Nokia/Foxconn/China/etc.

Epic battle, perhaps not unlike historic battles for railroads, oil , or the automotive industry. Wonder who will be the winners and losers in 10 years time...
[Spirit FM] tim91700:
Hello,

I have an HTC HD2, with ROM by michie in ICS 4.0.3

I download the application from the market.

As you can see, I'm french, I change the Regional Band, and the Method to HTC

I try to listen but I have this message :

SU: 1

Fm=BC

Sh:1

Su:1

Bt:1

Ht=1

H2:0

Mo:BCU

I don't know how to do, to listen radio.

Thanks for help
[Spirit FM] icke:
Try this:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=21232473&postcount=4254 ;)
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Thanks icke, but I'm not sure that will help him, at least not yet.

He has "BCU" in the debug line which is "Broadcom Unknown", and that indicates it just isn't starting for him. Audio Method won't help until we can get it to start.

Looking at your linked post you say:

What ROM are you running ? Is all that necessary to get it working on your ROM ? I would have hoped all the above wasn't needed, except for Audio Method, at least for now.

So I'd like to get to the bottom of that and make it all automatic as much as possible.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
As I said in the post above, you have "BCU" in the debug line which is "Broadcom Unknown", and that indicates it just isn't starting for you. Don't worry about Regional Band and Audio Method until we can get it to start.

You have SU and you have hcitool, so there should be at least 3 different ways this should be working, and apparently none of them worked, which surprises me.

Can you send me a log with Menu->Help->EM Logs and after a few seconds. enter "HD2 ICS" in the email text and press send ? Thanks !
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
I'm happy to have a report of success on the Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0:

http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/mp3-players/YP-G70CWY/XAA

The device is stock and un-rooted and RDS and all other features seem OK.

This seems like a nice 5" device if you don't need a phone. Seems as low as $200 US or so online.

And since the carriers aren't involved, the US model still has FM.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Bravo to HTC !

I signed up for their dev program. Not much on their site, but I asked about getting HTC devices for testing.

Apparently they have plenty of old stock to give away to devs ! :)

So expect better HTC support soon.

Hopefully Samsung will follow suit. They have a lend program also, as well as remote software testing (but w/ no audio...)

I guess I'll try Motorola and the others too...
[Spirit FM] icke:
This will work on every ICS rom for HD2.;-)

I've tested this procedure nearly on every ICS rom.

Trust me!

Successfully testeed on IceCreamTosti, michie's ICS, tytung's NexusHD2-ICS and tytung's AOSP ICS ROM for HD2.

Doesn't know if it's working on MIUI ICS for HD2....but I think it should do!;-)

Sent from my HTC HD2

---------- Post added at 12:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:57 AM ----------

And just tested on IceCreamTosti v0.7 AND....it's working too!;)
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Oh,.... OK... so this is a general issue just with the ICS ROMs... I'll see if I can come up with an easier method. It would be great if you or someone went through that sequence and send me a debug log.

So far I still haven't heard of any other FM app, manufacturer or otherwise, running on ICS.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=22670853#post22670853

Can you try posting on this thread ?

No, I can't think of a practical way to not save options, except for something unusual in some prior versions. You can clear all app options from the main applications settings. I'll try to put together a better solution. For now, this is what I'd try:

Set Audio->Method to "none". Then stop the app.

Start the app and select Menu->Test->Audio. Now select "qdsp5v2 headset enable".

Got back to that screen if you need to change to speaker or disable the FM audio path.

Let me know how that works. There are others ways we could do this better.
[Spirit FM] icke:
Did U ever seen a FM app on ICS?!

So we have NO FM on ICS or we have U!

I think last one is the better one, don't U think so?;)
[Spirit FM] djfirefy:
I just instaled SpiritFM, I have the unlocker code but there is no unlock option in the menu. Any advice? Thanks.
[Spirit FM] patou75:
No Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S ? I'm on MIUI Rom
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Are you a paid customer and where did you get the unlocker code ?

Codes aren't used anymore due to abuse.

The fully pre-unlocked version is available from the Market for market customers and directly from me via email for Paypal customers.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
So far, I haven't heard or seen any other FM app on ICS. EDIT: Apparently leaked Samsung ICS ROMs for GS2 have FM. I9100XXLPH and I think a previous one too.

Not from CM or MIUI. I think all they'd need in many cases is just moving the FM code from older audio libraries to the new one.

And the CM FM app has the "fragmentation" issue. You can't take the TI based HTC Legend CM FM app and use on a Broadcom based phone like the HTC Desire. My single APK app can adjust to or be configured for many different phones and ROMs. (Two really though: 1 free & 1 paid).

The other few FM apps tend to be like the manufacturer apps. They rely on the OEM proprietary libraries that haven't been ported to ICS yet.

My self-adjusting, configurable, almost any phone or ROM approach makes it first for new Android versions. :)

But there ARE advantages to me when other apps are working. I have proprietary API support for stock, unrooted phones that won't work on ICS until the proprietary libraries are working.

And when CM FM audio support is working, then my app will work better on CM ROMs. For now there are various problems that will only be solved well when FM audio routing support is re-created for CM9 ROMs.

If Google was friendly to FM this wouldn't be so much of a problem. But AOSP ROMs never have FM support.

At least this problem doesn't affect stock devices yet. The only stock devices with ICS, such as the Galaxy Nexus, don't physically support FM at all.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
My app doesn't work well on most Sony products for unknown reasons. X10 mini seems fine though.

I can look if you send me a debug log with Menu->Help->EM Logs and after a few seconds. enter "Arc S" in the email text and press send.
[Spirit FM] Shiftlock:
Hey Mike i love the idea of the app. I have a samsung epic 4g and noticed that you have it in the unlikely section. However I did find that the Epic uses a Broadcom BCM4329 chip, the same as the Evo 4g, instead of the Silicon labs. I have also found libfmradio_jni.so in my /system/lib/ directory. I believe that this phone could possibly have FM functionality. I just thought i would bring this up because i couldnt find anything in the thread about it and i would love to have this function. Please let me know if you need anything else. I am not great at the reverse engineering thing but i can help if you can guide me on what to look for.

I am not using CM7 but i am using a custom rom.

Thanks!