If you’re like the average Android user, you probably listen to music on your phone. Whether it’s through the phone speaker, headphones or plugged into your car or home speakers, music is a big part of any Android device. There’s even dedicated music players such as the Samsung Galaxy Player and Archos 32 and 43. However one option that seems to be missing from every single Android device is an FM transmitter.
Sure, the FM radio is built into a lot of phone chipsets and enabled with an app, most of the time included on the phone. But what if you want to stream music straight to your phone to your car stereo. The usual options are always there: Use an AUX cable or cassette tape adapter, use an external bluetooth or FM Transmitter
From memory and a little bit of research, I was only able to find a handful of devices that actually include an FM transmitter built into the hardware:
- The outdated Archos 5 Internet Tablet
- The insanely expensive Ulysse Nardin Chairman luxury phone with prices starting at $12,000
- The Lumigon T1
- And a handful of other no-name Chinese tablets
If there are any other devices out there, feel free to let us know.
Now obviously for a device to function as an FM transmitter it must have the proper internal hardware. I’m no expert on chipsets nor app development, so I’m not sure if it’s possible for a device with an FM receiver to be reversed and function the other way around. If it’s a matter of hardware, then the major chip makers out there like Texas Instruments, Samsung and Qualcomm just don’t see the need or demand for it. Perhaps it’s just me, but I think it would be a low-cost feature that users could really benefit from. Kind of like a built into a TV remote, but that’s a whole other subject. What about you? Would you be more likely to buy an Android device if you knew you could easily stream music to any radio with a built-in FM transmitter?
