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Comment by panic | Hacker News Reader

Complete tangent, but why don't they put simple AM radio receivers (or even low power transmitters) in cell phones? Imagine the cool stuff you could do with an AM radio API!

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For the same reason they took out the FM radio on phone, those devices with a million antennas in them:

It makes it harder for them to sell you Apple Music, Google Music, Spotify, etc.

I recall an HN thread in which it was claimed that in fact most phones can, but to enable it means more FCC certifications etc. Can't find it offhand; someone more knowledgeble should jump in. (I'd love such a feature myself.)

Some phones did. FM too. Sony I think? Early-mid 2000s I'm thinking.

My cellphone has FM built in also, I just have to plug in headphones. Wish I had AM, I normally just stream AM over data.

Many still do. https://www.kimovil.com/en/best-smartphones-fm-radio

My Nokia N900 had an FM receiver and transmitter, I used it a few times to stream music to my old car.

That TX feature is awesome as someone who enjoys older cars.

Yeah that's so cool. I mean Bluetooth was crap back then, if it was even a thing at all. Only way you could listen to music on your existing home / car stereo without any wires.

They used to! But you had to use wired earphones for it, because they'd use the earphone wire as the antenna.

Some phones do. I had a Motorolla G5 Plus a couple years ago, and used it often to listen to the radio on walks.

Because 0.01% of people would actually use this.

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