yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] tkoreaper:
Doesn't change the fact that T-Mobile doesn't DISABLE the so-called 'feature'... It is, like I said, not used by default. Sprint is the ONLY carrier, both nationally and internationally, that has it activated on their phone. It could be that other carriers simply do not know it's there and it most-likely involves a radio modification of some sort so it's not something you or I could enable. It's not fair to punish, or even threaten, T-Mobile for this when only one carrier uses it and we do not know the reason for it not being activated. I'm not an engineer or a developer, nor do I claim to be, but there could be some implications that we do not know about if it is activated. This is much different from your examples because it's not meant to be a feature... it's just something that the device is capable of doing.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] pcriz:
You realize you just contradicted yourself into next week right? I see this is going to be as affective as socractic questioning a brick wall.. Let's agree to disagree and appreciate the fact that unless you pay my bill and bought my phone you have no say in how I go about handling issues with it...

Also Tmobile is a big company now, it and all its lawyers can take care of itself. No need to get all White Knight on a company that sees you as earning potential and nothing else... /rant

This got fan boy way too quick for moi..
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] barfingmonkey:
FM stinks
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] chong67:
I have unlimited data so I just use Tunein Radio Pro and listen to stations all over the world.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] cronos1388:
I made this thread because I want to be able to listen to MLB games. I already have MLB.TV and yes I can use the At Bat App but I like being able to pick up the local radio stations.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] cronos1388:
I'm not threatening tmobile.....not sure why you think that or why this thread got to 3 pages of someone arguing that maybe I should use an app that doesn't pick up the free broadcast signals of every major US sport and consume way less battery.

I already have a Sandisk Mp3 player with an FM tuner it's tiny. I don't want to carry it around. I'd rather just use my phone since it's the one device in my pocket.

It won't matter in a year or two. Congress will most likely make it mandatory for US phones to have FM radios in them. Half for the broadcast lobby and half for the legitimate reason of emergencies where we lose cell service which aren't as unlikely as you may think.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] cronos1388:
Just seems kind of dumb to argue for 3 pages that a feature some people would use and costs nothing to implement is somehow asking too much.

I switched to tmobile from Verizon and guess what I had a locked down bootloader but my G2 ran all AOSP roms and had root and also had a radio tuner and my Droid Bionic was the same thing before that. The Note 4 is actually the first phone I've owned that doesn't have the tuner and I was surprised to learn that when I wanted to listen to some baseball games at work yesterday and was even more surprised to find out that the feature could be enabled(most likely by a software update) if tmobile wanted to enable it.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] tkoreaper:
"the carriers choose to restrict the chip" - No, it's off/restricted by default.

"It's very popular in other countries and they refuse to explain why they won't let consumers access the feature and pretend like it doesn't exist for our phones" - It's not activated on this phone in other countries either. Since it's off by default they probably really don't know it's there.

"T-mobile pretends to be the UNcarrier and I switched to them from Verizon for that reason but it seems that they're just as bad as Verizon with painfully slow updates and locked down features." - Bunch of BS... one update on a single device doesn't mean it's the same throughout their entire lineup of devices. For the S5 they were mere days behind the first release of 5.0... When I had my M8 they were first... in fact, their update included fixes that none of the other carriers had so they had to release yet another update. The Note 4's that have gotten the Lollipop update all have issues which could explain why ours is taking a bit longer because from experience T-Mobile does a very good job of making sure things work before they rush out an update. PLEASE show me an example where T-Mobile blatantly 'locks down features'.

"I would threaten to switch to Sprint but that's an empty threat." - You said you never threatened. Well, an empty threat is still a threat in my book.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] cronos1388:
It's funny because I picture you sitting at your computer screen slamming your fists on your keyboard as you furiously type to show me how wrong I am for wanting FM radio.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] rosedog:
I want fm radio too. For sports primarily.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Android_Monsters:
I've had it before on my HTC g2. Never used it once.

I have a customization shop for cell phones, so I'd love to be able to offer extra features.

But, hacked Pandora one and hacked youtube is really what every one wants.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Android_Monsters:
Stuff like that
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] tkoreaper:
No one is saying you are wrong for wanting it... I'm saying you're wrong for thinking T-Mobile is the evil bad guy in this and everything else that is a minor inconvenience to you.

---------- Post added at 09:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 PM ----------

I understand your point, but it's just not the same. When it comes to smartphones WiFi and the Camera are MAJOR features... It is something that is expected to be on the device because it is one of the defining factors of a smartphone. Things like heart rate monitors, fingerprint scanners, barometer, oxygen sensor, ect. are more of an afterthought... Something that is added on to cater to those that would make use of it and is not widely considered to be an integral part of a smartphone... And sometimes, which in this case, it is just a byproduct/capability of a piece of hardware on the device. This, of course, may change over time with different consumer trends, but at this very point in time no one is using any of those secondary features as a deciding factor when it comes to purchasing a phone.

Suggesting the user to buy a radio wasn't supposed to 'solve' the issue with their phone, but rather give them an alternative means of achieving the same goal... He came here with an issue that can't be fixed by anyone else except the carrier so I suggested an alternative. I'll say this one more time... The phone is 'capable' of allowing the user to listen to FM radio, but it is something that is not used by default. It is NOT a feature all carriers are blatantly disabling because it's not even used in the first place! It is just something that the device is capable of doing with a clever use of hardware. Phones without a HR monitor can still (somewhat) accurately detect your heart-rate, the camera can be used to detect infrared light or be fashioned into a microscope, and the GPS can measure air pressure and altitude, but you don't see people out there demanding their carriers make use of these 'features' or claim that is being disabled.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] justibasa:
Umm I think you guys need to get a life. Lots better things to do than whine and complain on a thread all day.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] jazzmachine:
Yes, it's easy to just dismiss the comparison when you entirely drop the context in which it was proposed. What people, particularly XDA members who heavily customize their devices, consider to be "MAJOR" features varies greatly between individuals. I 99.999999% guarantee you that I use my phone entirely differently than you (or anyone else) does, and I very likely have things that I consider to be major, must have features on my phone that most people haven't even heard of. By suggesting consideration of the wifi radio from the perspective of a person who only cares about LTE, I was setting up the comparison between "hardware features on a given device". If it wasn't clear, I was attempting to remove the inherent bias of what you (or I) or other people consider to be "major features". Didn't seem to work...

The crux of the issue here is "hardware efficiency". The question being asked in this thread is "why does our device have a feature built into in that's completely inactive?" It's not at all about "what features people care about (from my perspective)".

I (of course) agree that objectively, it's ridiculous to "rank" the FM radio next to the WIFI radio / camera. I would simply prefer that the device in my hand makes use of 100% of it's hardware capabilities rather than 74%(??) It seems that not all agree...
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] 10-K:
Is it cause they can use it in Korea town that we can see it and not use it?

They get special versions of our phones sometimes, but you have to live in a communist country to use them?

http://thedroidguy.com/2014/12/sams...edition-velvet-red-galaxy-note-4-korea-100691

I have Qualcomm stock, but I'm not moving to Korea.

Cyanogen usually gets the fm thing open. Let's wait and see.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] vinnyjr:
I'm using Tune in Pro verdion. Not the same as a libe radio station but it is adequate. Real FM Radio would be great.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] egcthree:
Good luck, HTC9 will be unlocked like damn near all htc phones fm radio chip
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] jonahtriangle:
Actually the only fact is that Sprint note 4 has an Fm reciever. We do know that samsung or any other manufacturers will put certain modems radio bands or personal logos on a carriers model. Thers is still no proof Tmobile has the chip. If you go here http://nextradioapp.com/supported-devices/ you can see many phones from samsung have the fm reciever. It just looks like its sprints thing to add the chip in most of there phones. What we n3ed is to find out weather or not the t mobile version does in fact have the chip.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] vinnyjr:
It would be much cheaper for T-Mobile to allow the FM radio chip if it is really there than give free music data to so many different apps. That is why I don't think the FM radio chip is in the T-Mobile Note 4. The Note 4 is the best device to date IMO.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] darekz:
If fm radio is necessity for some why not to get this one.

http://www.esurebuy.com/sony-ericsson-mw600-hi-fi-bluetooth-stereo-headset-with-fm-radio/
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] jonahtriangle:
It is not a necessity. I dont know about you but I don't want to carry around more than one device if I don't have to. Personally I had a phone with fm tuner and I used it once. However I could see people wanting this feature. Heck even the notion of them hiding it from us. It being there and them not turning it on is not cool. If the tuner really is there. Which no ody has confirmed yet.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] keithwwalker:
One big reason for FM radio, in case of emergency, most cell towers will be down, even with backup gensets; you got 36 hours post emergency if the servers aren't overwhelmed.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] em0ney14:
Myself and some others spent time decompiling source from the other carriers that have FM working on the S5 and started looking into it awhile ago when the note 4 first came out and we slowly stopped working on it to develop and test other issues.

I'll see what I can find out and let you know.... But give me a little time, work is killing me right now......
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] cronos1388:
oh thats awesome. Thanks dude. Take your time. This is like an added value feature for me.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] lorjay589:
Fm radio would be cool. But I don't think other carriers really notice it or just don't care enough because they have music companies attached to them but to be fair to sprint. They had sprint radio and all types of phones with Fm radio. I think sprint always have and had Fm radio on phones in mind. Also all of the arguing isn't really called for. People need to realize that you can't force your preferences on someone. That'll keep things more peaceful.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] jazzmachine:
I think the "issue" here is carriers restricting customers from making use of

all

of the device's built-in features. For those who don't care about having a convenient FM radio, I think a good comparison (perhaps more apt than the wifi/camera comparisons that I made before) is companies like AT&T removing Download Booster from the N4, S6 etc. That's not something that I use all that often, but it's nice to have (when DLing a new game or something), and even though it could easily be considered "unnecessary", I'd still be... displeased if I accidentally bought my phone from AT&T and was unable to use a feature built into the ($$$) device because AT&T decided to cripple it.

Even take a feature that IMO totally sucks (and is frozen on my phone): Side Key Panel. The app Button Savior is FAR superior. The thing is that I made the decision to disable that feature on my phone. I really have no idea if I would even use an FM radio on my N4, but if it's built into the phone, I'd certainly like to have the choice to use it or not. I'd "prefer" that OEMs build their devices with all included hardware / features accessible and that all carriers sold them in that form... Realistically, a phone bought from a carrier will always contain their specific "bloat", however, that's the line. Carriers disabling / not activating built-in features in addition to bloating up the device is far over that line.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Loqheed:
FYI, South Korea isn't a communist country, it's a democracy. You're talking about North Korea, and they have nothing to do with Samsung.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] 10-K:
Sure it's not
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Loqheed:
Troll much?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] tkoreaper:
AGAIN... NO ONE is 'restricting' anything!!! It is DISABLED BY DEFAULT... The Unbranded/International phones don't even have it. SMH
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] jazzmachine:
Did you pick a random post to quote without reading it? As quoted, AT&T and Verizon are 'restricting' DL Booster (for ex.) This is well-known and undisputed...

Every single hardware component is "DISABLED BY DEFAULT"... They are enabled by firmware/kernel/driver support. Why enable some components that are "disabled by default" (such as... your display) and not others? Why incorporate hardware into an extremely small form-factor device and not bother to enable it?

The Sprint, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile models do

even

have it. What was the point you were trying to make here?

If you say so.

How about we keep this thread about learning and investigation and skip the angry(?), vague attempts to create an argument (when there really isn't one) only to very poorly refute it? IOW, this thread has a topic - let's discuss that.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] tkoreaper:
I wasn't talking about other features. I was talking specifically about the FM Radio... which is what the topic is about. I brought up the fact that the international/unbranded device doesn't have it because they aren't touched by a third party... the same third parties you claim are 'restricting' this feature. How can they be restricting it when it wasn't even enabled in the first place?? I don't get why that's so hard to understand. Stop pointing blame to the carriers and look at Samsung. Sure, some may say the carriers are just as guilty for not enabling it, but they may not have even known it was capable... Just like many of us were clueless about it (and still are). But to look directly at the carriers, call them the bad guy because you think they disabled something, and then demand they enable it is NOT the way to go. Such entitlement.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] jazzmachine:
If you have a point to make and wish it to be taken seriously, then I would suggest doing so without resorting to personal insults and logical fallacies (strawmen, ad hominems). If you claim that I "placed any blame... anywhere", then quote that text rather than putting words (that were never said) in my mouth. For example:

A false blanket statement which was followed by:

Clearly... :eek:

Also, I never implied, let alone said, as you claim:

Then:

Carrier Development Divisions being unaware of the hardware capabilities of devices that they are selling? That seems extraordinarily unlikely. But, sure. That would certainly strengthen your false allegations that I'm "blaming" carriers for anything. BTW, the only reason I even mentioned any carriers was to point out the few that enable that feature (along with every other feature/component).

Finally:

Well, I've done none of those things - merely stated facts and expressed a desire to learn more. However if preferring that I have the ability to use all of the hardware built-in to my device vs. not colors me... "over-entitled", then I guess so be it.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] chriscosta77:
I just upgraded yesterday, from a T-Mobile Sony Xperia Z1s to a Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and I was surprised the T-Mobile Version of the Note 4 didn't have an FM radio. Every phone I've owned in the past decade (mostly Sony/Ericsson), has had a built-in FM tuner. I don't listen to live radio too often but it's definitely missed.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Raynar:
Personally I don't even listen to radio anymore. When I have spotify, digitally imported radio, and Google play music. If wanna hear talk shows that what podcast are for. Personally same goes for cord cutters too in TV.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Cerv3r:
Ever thought about becoming a lawyer? Nicely done.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] _yupa_:
I'd like a way to activate the fm radio too. Just a consideration. I had a lg g2 and to activate ant+ I downloaded an app that deactivated fm radio. In the lg g2 ant+ and fm radio cannot be active simultaneously. Is it possible the note 4 use the same chip and so has the same limitation?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Tatdude806:
Interesting article

And it points out what needs to be done in the US toward the end of the article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/22/norway-fm-radio_n_7110782.html
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] rjohnstone:
The T-Mobile Note 4 does support FM radio.

Looks like it might be as simple as missing the app to access it.

It's listed as a feature in /system/etc/feature_default.xml

And /system/csc/features.xml
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] WerkFlowJones:
Simple Solution everyone

Ive had the app radio.fm i got off the play store for more than a year already on my notes 3 and 4 for t mobile and it has never dissapointed. sound quality is flawless even with low signal, just make sure youre within coverage of the radio station:good:
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] dkb218:
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that INTERNET radio?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] jazzmachine:
You would be correct. Just did a search in the Play store and found an app called "Radio FM" and another, "Radio FM !" (different devs). Both apps' descriptions make it clear that they are internet radio platforms (similar, in the key ways at least, to TuneIn - my internet radio app of choice). No access to the N4's hardware radio :(
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Some_dude36:
I just spoke to tmo0bile AND samsung and Tmo assured me they dont block any hardware on the device and are just responsible for the network and Samsung rep couldnt even grasp the concept of me trying to enable a chip that isnt enabled by default and told me to contact fm radio app developer for a fm radio app and they can do it aka I gots no idearrrrr

Anyone made any progress on hacking it or something in the file system where it could be accessed and value changed?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] ShrekOpher:
Has anyone tried tweeting the Tmobile CEO. I bet if a bunch of us did he would look into it. To my knowledge the fm transmitter is in the phone.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Product F(RED):
As far as I know, they physically ground the pin normally, but I could be wrong. I had the S3 i9300 (International non-LTE version with Exynos and 1GB of RAM) back in 2012 and that had FM radio unlike the US versions. I ordered it before the US versions came out.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] catseyenu:
Good news!

T-Mobile To Activate FM Chip/NextRadio

https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/94107/t-mobile-to-activate-fm-chipnextradio/
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] RiverCity.45:
I used to use that regularly on my HTC phone with TMO.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] BRANDENDEUCE:
This is supposed to happen when?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] @rbiter:
Isn't there FM on the htc m8 on sense? I seem to recall that but I'm on gpe stock Android.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] chodaboy19:
Great job for those that pushed for this!
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] buddie024:
If you bought a car from a dealer that's Bluetooth enabled but didn't know until someone told you about it and then found out it was disabled by the dealer that sold it to you, wouldn't that bother you? Even if a $5 auxiliary cord served as an economic alternative fix?

Just saying. I think it's as crazy as charging for WiFi tethering. If you're paying for data why should you have to pay extra to bounce it to another device? I mean my note 4 comes with a camera, should I pay more to actually use it?

---------- Post added at 11:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------

Chill...lol
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] tkoreaper:
Way to necro an old post. Your example is not quite the same. Bluetooth is modern technology... It's something to be expected. We're talking about an FM radio on a SMART phone. It's like wanting a cassette player or a short-wave radio in your car. You think people are mad that modern cars can't play tapes? Hell, CDs are even close to being outdated now. As I've said before... it's "capable" of receiving FM signals, but that doesn't mean it HAS to be utilized. Besides, it doesn't matter. T-Mobile has already stated that they will be making use of the capability going forward.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] buddie024:
Even if my car had an 8 track player I'd want to know about it. Whether I'm going to use it or not is not really the question. It comes down to accessibility. I shouldn't have to buy a radio from dollar tree to use a function my SMART phone is capable of. As far as as T-mobile allowing it now, awesome! Let's move forward.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] dbpaddler:
The one problem I still see is you're restricted to headphones or your phone's speaker. It doesn't output via Bluetooth which was key for me. I went back to using my Sansa clip to listen to sports. Contracts forbid streaming over the Internet version of the station.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] em0ney14:
Disclaimer, I did not read this full thread.

When the note 4 first came out I did a lot of testing for ktoonsez, and I even went as far as to disassemble some of the programming on the t-mobile version and found were the code was for the FM radio, but stopped there.

If need be, I could get back into it if people are serious about it.

Pm me if you are.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] joe1blue:
Please do : )
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Eudeferrer:
I would love totally love to see this actually happen for our Note 4s. It would make my day.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] palillo08:
Fm radio in my note 4?of course I want it!
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] grmcrkrs:
I would enjoy having FM radio in my Note 4. I've had several different new phones, and I've sold them all to go back to the Note 4.

Please work your magic!
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] aaldiar:
Just curious, I use TuneIn radio app for my radio needs. Which is not often as pandora plays well with my selections. Are there stations that won't play on FM radio apps?