FM Radio Aerial lets you listen radio without earphones
Posted by Dusan on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 3:32 am under Uncategorized
I never quite understood handset makers that make us use headphones in order to listen to the local radio stations. Yeah, there are already multiple radios in each handset including the FM receiver, but apparently it's the antenna that's a problem. Still, one would think they could use a metal around the casing for that purpose, or least that sounds feasible.
Anyway, thanks to the neat accessory called FM Radio Aerial you will now be able to listen radio without earphones. Simply insert the Aerial into the 3.5mm audio jack, start the radio app ("Visual Radio" on Symbian S60 phones), turn on the speakers and you're ready to rock.
There is a downside, however - the Aerial has to be removed to answer an incoming or make an outgoing call. Then again, it costs 3.99 GBP (about $8) so you can't complain much. It's available on eBay, just search for "FM Aerial for Nokia N95" and you should be able to find it.
[Via: SymbianFreak]
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March 16th, 2008 at 5:07 am
I don't quite see the point of such a thing. For one, the N95-1 has poor loudspeaker volume as far as the radio is concerned. Don't know why they won't fix it even after multiple firmware upgrades.
Second, why would I carry such a thing, when I can simple use the headphones as antenas for the radio and turn on the loudspeaker!
March 16th, 2008 at 5:12 am
Dule, they DO have built-in FM receivers, it's the antenna that's the problem. FM antennas are low-tech and need to be relatively long to function well, as is you can see from that accessory! Using the headphone cables to double-up as an antenna is actually a clever and elegant solution.
Of course what we really need is DAB. . .
March 16th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Yeah, you're right. Still, one would think they could use a metal around the casing as an antenna. Thanks for the tip though, I'll fix the post promptly.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:52 am
Would this work on the N800 tablet?
May 24th, 2008 at 9:28 am
If it could also attatch as the Phone aerial and the GPS aerial then it would be an excellent addition, maybe the aerial could be a bit smaller or telescopic or very bendy etc would be good to.