What cell phones have hybrid digital HD AM/FM radio?...

[thezak]

What cell phones have a hybrid digital HD AM/FM radio feature?...

 

[mmnassour]

(crickets)





Seriously, can you really imagine power-hungry HD Radio being implemented in today's smartphones? The new 4G technology is power-hungry in its own right, some of Verizon's efforts yielded phones that would only run 4-6 hours before needing a charge. Only with the Razr Maxx does Big Red have a phone that will run all day on 4G. And now the broadcasters are going to ask Motorola to include another battery-sucker?

Run a Google search for "cell phone with HD radio". All you'll find is a bunch of two and three year old articles about how wonderful it will be when it happens.

Personally, I'd consider a viable phone with HD Radio. The more choices I have, the better. If someone knows of one, I'd love to know about it.

But overall, those of us with smart phones who want radio have Internet radio. We've left the locals behind.

 

[tomservo]

AFAIK there are none available yet. I figure if they can get the battery issue down so that an active HD radio chip uses less power than existing 4G chips then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Radios in cell phones would only be active when turned on, like Wifi or Data or GPS. So it wouldn't matter to the 99.9% of people who never use the FM radios they have now.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

You can add this to your list of things that will never happen. FM reception without an antenna would be miserable enough without adding the reception miseries of HD radio to the mix. you might as well go back to the days of cell phones with whip antennas if you want to make HD radio work in them.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Screw HD. Just activate the FM radio that many smart phones already have built onto the chips. RDS can provide all the data that I care about. I'm fine with the FM only working if I have earbuds plugged in. I have no desire to listen to any content - music or voice - over the power-sucking, tiny, lousy-sounding cell phone speaker anyway. If my MP3 player can do decent sounding FM - and it can - so can a cell phone. And I sure don't want to use up expensive data streaming audio when I could have it for free - without the usual delay, and without the pablum served up in place of commercials. Yes, I'd rather hear commercials than Muzak. At least the commercials might let me know about a deal I'd be interested in.

 

[nd2023]

Radio Shack used to sell the Gigaware HD radio tuner for iPhones for $20. The HD reception sucked compared to the Insignia and it ate my battery life more than streaming over 3G. They stopped selling it.

So either no phones have HD radio, or one could say that every phone has HD radio because they can stream the HD2s online.

 

[Darth_vader]

I'd rather hear Muzak than commercials.

 

[mmnassour]

Just a little more fuel for the fire on this issue from Gary Shapiro of the CEA, quoted from today's editorial in "The Hill" :

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/239067-broadcasters-should-man-up-and-compete

In any case, the NAB’s real motives are anything but pure on this issue. As broadcast radio networks continue to bleed listeners to other services, theNAB is doing what it always does: Travel to Washington hat-in-hand looking for a favor. Instead of attempting to boost declining ratings through government means, the NAB should start actually competing in the market.

First, do what real businesses do – businesses that don’t rely on the nanny state to keep their noses clean: Go cut a deal with a manufacturer and negotiate inclusion of a radio chip. After all, the stations own the valuable spectrum, radio time and lots of cash. I am sure if they put any of those assets on the table and started negotiating they can cut a deal.

Second, with a deal in place, try building demand. Just as every other company in America has to build up demand for its products through marketing, so too can radio stations. Sell the feature and people may start asking for it. Move the needle with a massive campaign on and off radio. If you believe in the power of radio – use it!

 

[JohnnyElectron]

Ditto, I wasted my money on the Radio Shack Gigaware HD radio tuner for the iPad/iPhone. Barely got mono FM reception yet alone HD indoors from a 50KW station. The little Best Buy Insignia works better than the RatShack tuner. BTW, I think they have them on clearance for something like $8.97 now too if you want to give it a try.

 

[Savage]

thezak, may I suggest you stop posting here positing questions using the term "hybrid digital HD?" It's well established that "HD Radio" doesn't mean "hybrid digital," or high definition, or anything else. It's just a dumb phrase which was cynically hatched to try to tailgate on the essentially contemporaneous and successful rollout of High Def TV, legitimately termed "HDTV."

I'm not picking nits or splitting hairs here, but when we're dealing with highly controversial and divisive issues - actually, other than consolidation, I can't think of anything as much so as HD - it's important to be accurate and call things what they really are.

It would be best to use either the official "HD Radio" or the generic IBOC (which is untruthful enough.)

 

[RJ Kanary]

Sucessful roll-out of ATSC TV? Not after the leaves appear on the trees, or there are storms anywhere near you.<VBG>

Signed,
Cliff Effect

 

[Savage]

Point taken. I guess I was thinking....."successful"......at least compared with HD Radio... :-[

 

[Carmine5]

Just a little more fuel for the fire on this issue from Gary Shapiro of the CEA, quoted from today's editorial in "The Hill" :

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/239067-broadcasters-should-man-up-and-compete

In any case, the NAB’s real motives are anything but pure on this issue. As broadcast radio networks continue to bleed listeners to other services, theNAB is doing what it always does: Travel to Washington hat-in-hand looking for a favor. Instead of attempting to boost declining ratings through government means, the NAB should start actually competing in the market.

First, do what real businesses do – businesses that don’t rely on the nanny state to keep their noses clean: Go cut a deal with a manufacturer and negotiate inclusion of a radio chip. After all, the stations own the valuable spectrum, radio time and lots of cash. I am sure if they put any of those assets on the table and started negotiating they can cut a deal.

Second, with a deal in place, try building demand. Just as every other company in America has to build up demand for its products through marketing, so too can radio stations. Sell the feature and people may start asking for it. Move the needle with a massive campaign on and off radio. If you believe in the power of radio – use it!

Gary Shapiro is (how can I say this in the most PC-sickening, web-friendly way possible) a moron. Oops, sorry. The most disingenuous part about Shapiro's latest screed against broadcasters isn't what broadcasters are saying as to why FM should be in cellphones but what he fails to disclose; that the CEA is funded exclusively by companies who have a vested interest in wireless broadband, including: Google, Apple, Sprint, T-Mobile, Samsung, and various large retailers (look it up). The number of broadcasting companies who have contributed to CEA? Zero. Curiously, Ibiquity is a CEA contributor. But then, if you notice in Shapiro's diatribe there was no mention of HD Radio. Perhaps Struble was buying some protection from this blowhard.

As for HD Radio in a cellphone, the Zune HD provides the answer. Not only was the device a consumer failure but if you dig back to blogs and comments from users you will find complaints of heat, shortened battery life and inconsistent reception. There's no reason to think that has improved much since then.