yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Yes, you're right, and this seems weird.

Google search "HTC Rezound FM" and it seems like just about every phone spec site and comparison site says is has FM. Even this hands on review here says it in text and verbally in the video, but the app or icon is never seen: http://pocketnow.com/android/verizond-htc-rezound-hardware-review-video

Hands on reviews usually don't make this mistake. But every thread I found indicates nobody has seen FM working.

And this is weird because very few HTC phones (excluding tablets) have no FM. Only 3 besides the Rezound are in my incompatible list and they are all 2 years old or older.

It's as if,... Verizon asked them to cut a PCB trace or zap the FM portion of the combo chip and they did. My impression is that HTC almost refuses to release phones with no FM, despite carrier requests.

I check my email and see 5 different people asked about the Rezound and nobody got it working with Spirit. It appears nobody sent me a debug log either, or mentioned RSSI readings, so I'm not sure if the antenna is connected. There are audio clicks selecting speaker/headset but no FM sound.
[Spirit FM] micks_address:
hi,

just wanted to check - am i right that the app or any app for fm radio wont work on the galaxy nexus?

Cheers,

Mick
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
April 3 Free: http://www.mediafire.com/?vf2f1o359f26l82

- Improve SU: Debug->SU Type.

Default "Auto (Echo)" is best. If it doesn't work, try "Command", if that fails then "Simple" and possibly pressing "Allow" a lot.

"Assume" just assumes needed permissions are already set, which will usually only be true after the first run after boot. "Assume" and "Disable" don't even try to use SU.

- GalaxyS CM9: Debug->GalS Normalize.

Build 17 and latest 330 "nightly" require 0 written to normalize flag.

- Audio->Method: remove & rename some.

If anyone feels they need the alternates for CyanogenMod or Motorola2, let me know.

"Samsung SL" was previously just "Samsung" and is for the Samsung OEM/Proprietary Silicon Labs FM chip API used on Galaxy S/S2/S3/Note/Player.

"Samsung BC" was previously "Samsung2" and is for the Samsung OEM/Proprietary Broadcom FM chip API used on Galaxy 5 (Five) devices such as Galaxy Ace etc.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
That's correct.

I raise the bounty to $300 for anyone who can show and prove that real, tuned, over the air FM (88-108 MHz) is possible and usable on the Galaxy Nexus, with software alone. IE, no hardware modifications and no external hardware additions. A requirement for a wired headset as an antenna is normal and fine.

I truly believe that nobody will ever qualify for this bounty. I make the offer to show my confidence. But I'd be happy to be proved wrong. :)
[Spirit FM] hydraxr:
Hi Mike

I've been using your app(paid) in sgs2 for months now very successfully in terms of battery usage.

I'm about to upgrade to ics 4.03.

Will it work??

Thanks!!
[Spirit FM] vispinet:
Is there any update on the Galaxy S speakers issues? Not yet safe to use the app?

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[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Did you email me too ? I've had a few such emails this morning.

I think the last "GalaxyS alsa./DANGER" Audio->Method speaker damage report I had was a few weeks ago. I received a claim about wired earphone/headset damage, but that was quite unique so I have a little skepticism that the app was involved.

But it's possible that my warnings, disabling the method for a week, and the Market issues with the Free app may have combined so that fewer people are running the app now, so that could partly explain the lack of new reports.

One interesting thing is that it seems to happen to people who have only used it a short time. Nobody who was using this method a few months ago or more has ever come back to report damage.

The reports only come from people I've had no previous contact with. So I think it may be hardware related and may just affect older devices that were known to have some other hardware defects.

My phones are running my app almost all the time, for testing. If it was going to affect MY Galaxy S you'd think it would have happened by now.

I DID have the problem with the earliest code back in August on the 1st Galaxy S that I had just bought. It was within 1 week of use. I returned it and my 2nd Galaxy S has been just fine since then.

So it's up to you to decide if you want to risk it. My rough "guess-timate" is that 1-5% of people who try it have problems.

If you use it and hear a loud click noise from speaker or headset, or any strange noises or other weird audio symptoms, that's a warning sign that you should reboot the phone ASAP and be cautious about the app.

With the code that's been there since March 4 though, most if not all of the audio problems previously seen seem resolved.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Wonderful... :)

ICS is probably no, unless it's a Samsung stock ICS that supports the Samsung FM app, or even if it has a Samsung audio library (Audio->Method = "Samsung SL").

Before CM7 had FM support for the SGS2 I made attempts to enable FM audio via ALSA etc. but was not successful. So I don't think I can do it on AOSP-like ICS without an SGS2 of my own to develop on.

I'm looking to see if there are any EBay SGS2's that support FM that I can get for a decent price, even with cracked screens or whatever, but they still seem too expensive.

But I hope that CM9 may have FM enabled audio libraries before that. Hopefully, maybe within the next 2 months or so. But the CM9 devs seem to be ignoring FM pretty much so far.
[Spirit FM] vispinet:
Hi mate,

thanks for the kind answer. I didn't send you any e-mails. I guess there are just lots of Galaxy S users concerned about the issue :D

I guess it makes sense to me to wait a bit longer. I must admit I'm overcautious because I can't afford having the phone out for reparations for too long. Plus I don't use radio that much. However in the long run I believe fm radio is a plus I might need from time to time.

If you think there might be some kind of improvement in a month or 2, I guess I can wait (you mentioned some other method you'd like to try or a CM9-related workaround). Otherwise I'll install the app and keep it just in case I badly need radio.

It goes without saying, if you manage to make it "absolutely safe" I'll definitely get the paid version from the market.

Cheers,

Vito
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
:) The Galaxy S and S2 were/are incredibly well selling phones which is why I HAD to support them, despite the US models having the FM chips removed.

Just so you know:

When the problem happens, it never seems to kill the ringer speaker entirely, it just makes it very crackly. So it sounds awful, but you can still tell the phone is ringing, although perhaps at lower volume.

The speakers can be had for as low as the $10-20 area with shipping, and I posted instructions on replacing them; it's not too hard if you're handy and reasonably careful.

My suspicion is that if you don't have the problem within the first 25-100 hours of use, then you are likely safe. This is based on the theory that it's related to hardware revision, which is still quite arguably refutable given that CM7 and MIUI were not having these issues.

And nothing is absolutely safe. But I'll continue to report the reports I receive and if/when we hit the 1 month - 2 month mark with no new reports, I think that will be a good sign.

Hopefully CM will have the CM FM app working soon and the problems will be fixed by their audio method.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
March 4: http://www.mediafire.com/?vrvp6qn194nl7a7

This is a test release not on Market as I haven't tested much.

- Mutes audio for a second after startup is completed to avoid clicks or bursts of loud volume.

Also special code to avoid startup volume burst on BCM 20780 chips such as Galaxy 5 (Ace) series eg GT-i5500 etc. Use if BCM 4330 is detected or enabled via Debug->BC 4330/20780.

- New Menu->Test->Audio functions (ALCR/ARCR/Aux FM) for higher end LG devices, or those with similar ALSA controls.

Sadly does not FM enable the Optimus 3D P920, which otherwise has a semi-functional Broadcom OEM API with RSSI peaking around 6.

- Audio->Method "Auto" now automatically and invisibly switches to "Samsung BC" or "LG" if the Broadcom OEM API is active and the manufacturer is Samsung or LG.

Similar functionality already existed for the Motorola API and the TI or Broadcom APIs when HTC is detected.
[Spirit FM] gazzacbr:
i have a HTC HD2 with a Galaxy Nexus Gingerbread rom and your radio works great.

do i get $300?
[Spirit FM] thisegzz:
Using the Nexus rom doesn't make your phone a Nexus ;)
[Spirit FM] xmguy:
I just bought a Motorola Bionic (Verizon US) again. Glad to report than on a unrooted phone and NO settings changed Spirit worked PERFECTLY! So in a install then run setting. Spirit preformed as normal. Requiring NO root or pre adjustments being made to Spirit BEFORE application would run. This is on the Bionic a TI chip. So others mileage will vary.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
LOL, No. :)

I tried to be very careful with my wording and specified "on the Galaxy Nexus", which I'm pretty sure should be interpreted as on an actual Galaxy Nexus device, not another device with a Galaxy Nexus ROM.

Wearing a dress does not make a man into a woman.

The intent is to ensure that my app would be able to be modified to support the thousands of Galaxy Nexus owners who want FM on their devices.

The original bounty was $100 and aimed at the "Bouncing RSSI" problem that afflicts millions of Broadcom chip devices with said problem as described in this thread. I'll include this problem for the same bounty if a solution is found that can FM enable a large number of devices that nobody has ever FM enabled before.

And again, I don't think these problems are solvable, but if they were, I would pick up a LOT of sales.

I will let "the court of majority public opinion" be the arbiter of any dispute, with an emphasis on the intent of the bounty (to FM enable many more devices) and not the precise definitions of words and phrases.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Email:

Thanks for your thoughts. I see we exchanged quite a few emails recently.

I'm not sure you understand this is not a hobby for me, nor am I wealthy.

Spirit is my only job, and I work at it 80 hours a week. Nobody pays me, except for the few who buy the Light or Unlocked apps.

Last week the Light app was at 99 cents.

If people are unable or unwilling to pay 99 cents for a unique app that took me over 4000 hours to create, and for a lifetime of technical support and updates on as many devices as you will own in the next 20 years, then they will need to live with whatever the free app provides.

How many other real FM apps are on Google Play/Market ? That should indicate how difficult it is.

Mike.

Have you ever done Paypal ? That's the only alternative method I've ever used. Payments just go via my email: mikereidis "ATT" gmail.com . But I'm limiting that to the more expensive Unlocked version at least for now.

Updates are done via email until I implement an automated system, hopefully soon.

I imagine you're in the US and bank transfer to Canada can be tricky sometimes. Email Interac would be OK if you were in Canada.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Interesting Galaxy S Speaker damage email:

Wow, thanks for all the details !

I don't think you did anything "dumb". Plugging the charger in and having wireless features on are not obvious risks.

But I will try to do the same myself and see what happens. I've REALLY wanted to find a way to reproduce the problem so that I can solve it. My phones are often connected to chargers since I use them for testing all the time, so I'm not sure I CAN reproduce it.

But I would agree that the risk is likely highest when battery is full and a powerful charger is connected. These modern chargers are often cheaply made in China, and I'd bet some of them have voltages that are rather high and susceptible to spikes or AC hum.

In general it's best to run the latest apps, but I think March 4 and later should be as safe as the latest.

At one point new people with no posts were posting in my thread with no problem.

EDIT:

I tried all wireless functions on and plugged in various chargers and USB cables, plugged unplugged the headset and ran both at full volume. Can't reproduce a speaker failure.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Wonderful ! :)

And thanks much for the new video you've done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMb21nSXbHA

Your older video gives some idea of how much has changed in the last 7 months: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYVMv-d601g

But it's mostly visuals. All the really HARD work is not so visible, such as support for many new features, phones, and stock un-rooted ROMs.

I imagine some people might think I haven't done too much because they haven't seen much change or improvement on their device. And as should be expected, there are many improvements that are specific to the Unlocked or Light versions.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
April 5 Free: http://www.mediafire.com/?jii7mexshhmc4zh

Light & Unlocked are updated on Google Play.

- Fixes seek on Samsung Broadcom devices such as Galaxy 5 (Five) / Ace.

- New Audio Method "LG TI (p92x)" for stock "LG Optimus/Swift 3D/Thrill 4G P920 / P925"

I've found that FM is indeed possible on these LG devices, and I've added what I hope is good audio routing code for them.

Compared to Google Play April 3 also includes these April 4 changes:
[Spirit FM] xmguy:
Im gonna chime in here and agree with Mike. I had a Motorla OEM home AC to DC charger resistor go out on me a month or so ago. I plugged my Razr Maxx in to charge heard a pop inside the charger. A few seconds later noticed the top of the charger getting hot. I unplugged it and took it apart to find a low value resistor and 1mF capacitor popped off the circuit board on the AC side of the transformer. If I had not been around it could have been very bad. This could have resulted in a fire. This was a result of my home powers voltage dropping from 120v down then back up as a spike. Ive not had the issue again. Luckily my phone is also ok. But it could have been worse.

It sounds as the Galaxy phone was made poorly if stray DC current is seeping into the speaker when Spirit is running and the phone is charging. You might consider adding a small resistor or tiny fuse if you can to block or arrest future issues like this. This is bad on Samsung's part.
[Spirit FM] xmguy:
No problem Mike glad it helped. I really love Spirit FM. One of the main reasons I bought a Bionic again was to regain Spirit which works on this phone but not my main phone the Razr Maxx. Darn Verizon and other US carriers blocking FM from being used.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
I have a darn cheap Chinese USB charger in my car. I've never opened it but my guess is it's effectively a resistor turning voltage into heat. And if not, then it's a darn cheap DC->DC converter and I'm just as wary about that.

But regardless, the big question is why does this afflict my app, but it doesn't afflict the CM FM app, or my app using the CM audio method on CM7 ?

I figure I copied the intent of the audio driver, if not the exact code. The logcat and kernel messages are similar, though not exactly the same.

I probably can and should change the code until the log and kernel messages match exactly. At that point there may be only one difference:

My app needs to do the Debug->Silent Loop thing to keep the audio going. The CM library just opens the PCM device, sends a few ioctls, and keeps the device open. I tried that (Debug->PCM Open) but it kills other audio and causes problems, I think because my code is not the audio library.

The audio library has an advantage over an app in this regard. Which is why I so often say these "hacks" are sub-standard. Support is needed in the audio library.

I guess I should/could see about hacking together an FM capable audio library.
[Spirit FM] Nitemare_real:
Hi, I have just changed my ROM (Samsung Galaxy S) from Onecosmic 4.0.2 to a new ROM based on Nexus device (4.0.4) and Google Play sees my phone as not compatible with Spirit FM Radio (free or UL version which I bought some weeks ago). Is there anything that I can ask ROM cooker to do to its ROM to be seen as a compatible device or is something to do with Spirit FM?

Greetings.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
:) I answered this in an email yesterday; Probably the same ROM...

The problem is that is a Nexus S ROM. And the Nexus S will never be able to work with any FM app. So I used the market facility that devs are supposed to use, to designate which phones are not compatible.

This prevents people from wasting time and getting frustrated, and posting the lowest 1 star reviews.

You need to edit /system/build.prop and these values should work:

ro.product.model=GT-I9000

ro.product.brand=samsung

ro.product.name=GT-I9000

ro.product.device=GT-I9000

ro.product.board=aries

ro.product.manufacturer=samsung

To do this on the phone requires remounting /system as read-write. From a connected PC this should work:

adb root

adb remount

Alternatively I think you can just edit the file in the ROM Zip file and install the modified Zip.
[Spirit FM] sp1980:
Good news for me as Desire Z user. After good contact with mike the latest versions works again with Desire Z and Andromadus rom!

Thanks Mike for fixing and the communication.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Woohoo ! :)

Are you one of the lucky people on ICS that has no problem with other audio and phone calls ?

Or you still have that and the fixed problem was the "second startup reboot thing" ?
[Spirit FM] sp1980:
Unfortunately I have the audio problem too. I didn't know this bacause after a reboot everything was normal like it was before. So I didn't had the chance to discover that before.
[Spirit FM] Nitemare_real:
Thank you so much, it worked!
[Spirit FM] cos68:
National characters

Hi Mike

Thank you very much for your application. I have bought your full version and I really enjoy it a lot.

One improvement I would very much like to see is to have support for national characters in the RDS Text. In Denmark we have three national characters besides of the normal a-z. These are æ, ø and å and capital Æ, Ø and Å.

These characters are never displayed correct in your application. An example of a text is:

N?ste: Radioavis

Instead it should have said:

Næste: Radioavis

So the Danish characters are displayed as a question mark instead.

I guess that could be the same for other European contries having national characters.

Could it perhaps be a configuration, which char set to use for displaying texts?

Thanks,

Claus
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Wonderful. :)

I'm surprised your request is I think only the 2nd or 3rd request I've had for the alternate character sets. Generally I try to prioritise requests by how many I receive.

But many European countries have more paid customers per population than that "#1" app country, so I'd really like to do this.

I've looked at it before and the RDS technical documents make it seem like it's really hard to do right. But I'll try to look at it again and see if there are any short-cuts I can try to make it easier...
[Spirit FM] flyto:
This new version fixes the problem with the galaxy S?
[Spirit FM] coloxim:
It doesn't work on s2 with cm9...

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[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
No.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
That's correct.

Some people have withheld "stars" in reviews for a problem that properly needs to be resolved in the audio drivers.

And woe be me if it breaks speakers or messes up other audio or phone calls.
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
April 7 Free: http://www.mediafire.com/?zsu348zg4n9yeuy

Light & Unlocked on Market.

1 change:

Hopeful fix for HTC Desire HD and similar devices using Audio->Method = "qdsp5v2 Plus/ICS". See below "rant".

==== Rant On:

No matter what, there is ABSOLUTELY no substitute for FM audio support in the Android audio libraries.

Anything an app (esp that REQUIRES SU) does CAN'T replace all the various "edge cases" and "inside knowledge" that the audio libraries have.

All I can do is try to create a reasonably stable HACK that works under a given set of circumstances. But it's always still a HACK. It can always be improved. But if it takes hundreds of hours, I might as well get into the "ROM business" and build and distribute the audio libraries myself. And hope it works on many ROMs without too much ongoing maintenance required. Or submit patches to the various projects and hope that goes OK.

But I'd much rather spend the time on the hundreds of other things that are more FM app specific.

==== Rant Off:

Some of this latest hack was hardcoded and tested for the case where a wired headset is plugged in. Problems in speaker mode are to be expected. Maybe I can fix that partly next release.

So, start Spirit with headphones plugged in, and keep it on headphone mode. Stop or at least pause Spirit if you want to play audio files on headphone.

If the music player or some other audio gets messed up due to using speaker mode, restart Spirit in headset mode and shut it down again.

I don't know about notifications.

Phone calls after shutting down Spirit, or pausing it, or having it automatically pause due to ringing should be OK. As always, even with stock FM apps on stock phones, you usually need to remove wired headphones to use the phone normally.

So Spirit is running, a call comes in, remove the headphones and talk. When the call ends, Spirit will appear to unpause but it likely won't work. So replug the headphones in and pause/unpause to get the FM back.

Let me know how it goes. Dozens of people can do a lot more testing than I can fit into a few hours on a holiday weekend. :)

And I knocked 10% of the prices just now (to 20% some currencies). And another 10/11.111% on Sunday (EDT Eastern Daylight Time = New York, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa). :D
[Spirit FM] sp1980:
Great update. After closing the app, I can use other audio apps again on ICS!
[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
WooHoo ! :D

Just don't expect anything approaching flawless.
[Spirit FM] coloxim:
I thought the problem was only for galaxy s...and not for galaxy s2...it is a sin...any possibilities to fix it?

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[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
No broken speakers on SGS2 at least in part because I don't have an Audio Method for SGS2 on ICS or ROMs with no FM support in audio libraries.

I'm just trying to point out that there are problems with these "hacks".

Consider this: I've had a Galaxy S in August. And yet some problems are still there.

I've had a Desire HD for probably 4 weeks now. And yet there are still problems.

I have no SGS2 and can't really afford one right now.

Making these hacks on these newer, more expensive. more complicated phones is hard enough, EVEN when I have one in front of me to test. Even with the older S and Desire HD generations.

Can you imagine how much harder it is when I don't have the phone ? On a newer, likely more complicated S2 ?

This is low level code. It's not high level normal app stuff I can test on one phone and it magically works on all phones.

Long ago, a few times, I offered ALSA commands to test to see if SGS2 could be FM enabled, before CM added library support. It never worked and nobody knows why or how to do it. I can look at the code in various places, but I do that on S and DHD that I have and look what happens ?

And as soon as I find to way to enable the audio, then I get: "OK it sorta works now, but we have all these problems with other audio and after and during phone calls, so can you fix that too ?"

So, sometimes it's better not to sink 50 hours into something, only to find that another 150 hours are needed and you're still not sure how well it will work.