Should all smartphones come with radio built-in?

FM, yes please.
DAB would be OK in addition to FM but not instead of FM.

Of my Samsung smartphone usage, the FM radio is the one I use most. I used to carry a small portable DAB radio with ehadphones, but the battery life was an issue. I would have to go back to using that again. I really do not understand just why Samsung and others have ditched radio when generally radio use is increasing.
Wifi coverage is never going to be seamless in cities, or of adequate speed and lack of congestion for us to use the net only for radio streaming. Not considering the data limitations.
A bad move by manufacturers. I doubt I will upgrade to the next Samsung phone from my S G3. Its no improvement in my eyes.

Lack of FM on my iPhone 5 is a pain, I’ve had to resort to my old iPod so I can listen to the radio on my train journey into London. I’ve tried streaming on my iPhone but out of my 40 minute journey I’m lucky to get 15 minutes connection.

I was delighted to have FM on my Galaxy S3 and used it constantly. I was dismayed to find that they had dropped it from the S4 and they lost my ‘brand loyalty’ overnight. I recently bought and iMac but wouldn’t consider paying the iPhone premium without radio. DAB sounds one for the future, though I wonder about battery life – DAB portable radios hog batteries compared with FM/AM portables.

You are so right. My old Ericsson was great as I could garden and go for walks listening to anything anywhere and it was great. My current htc, which I was assured had a radio is rubbish if on the move. I’m about to upgrade so your article is very timely. And DAB reception is too intermittent when travelling as I found out when my car was upgraded. I’ve gone back to using FM as it is far more reliable

I am still using a 14 year old Oono MiniDAB 2Plus2 with a knackered battery purchased for £187.

It is still the only piece of small portable equipment I’ve found that gives you 1) DAB radio 2) FM radio 3) ability to record from either plus 4) download from external sources.

In this modern age that seems incredible.

That is why I (still) don’t have a mobile phone – not providing a full enough service.

Lack of FM radio on smartphones is one reason I am so reluctant to replace my 6 year old Nokia 6303i. It still connects to the internet, lets me read and reply to emails + has a good FM radio, camera and MP3 – where’s the progress?

I listen to a lot of radio by my phone but it is through the internet which is why I chose my present contact which gives me unlimited 3g. I had a DAB radio in my last car but now play my phone through car sound system this is not perfect but it is better than listening Radio 5 at night on A.M. or Radio 4 L.M plus I can tune it to radio stations world wide, given the choice I would not go back to F.M. on my phone it is a backward step.

I have a Sony Xperia X10 Mini, which is a very small smartphone, quite a few years old now, but
the FM radio is probably the most used feature on it.

Every time I am in the house on my own, the headphones come out, phone in my pocket, and I can get on with the housework, DIY, washing the car, or whatever else I want to do, with the radio to keep me company. It works perfectly, great reception, you can save your favourites, and it is a major plus point for the phone. So much so that even though I have since upgraded to a larger newer smartphone, I still keep the X10 as a backup and of course for the radio! All phones should have them.

Get a Motorola moto g – comes with F
M radio as standard at a fraction of the price of most smart phones.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S3, but the later LTE (4G) version, annoyingly without radio.
However, I listen to it via a Sony Ericsson MW600 Bluetooth/FM Radio headset which is very small and neat. Unfortunately no longer made, but you can still find them.

For radio over in-ear headphones, there is seldom any reason for using a data stream greater than 64kbps, which requires little over 20MB per hour. The reason the BBC iPlayer now eats 60MB seems to be that they have removed the option of using a “low quality” stream and insist on sending 192kbps if your connection will support it.

Most Nokia Lumia phones have built-in FM but in my experience, while OK, it’s not as sensitive as it was on earlier phones like the X6.

When smartphones are supposed to be getting smarter it seems ludicrous that not only do they not have dab radio but don’t have fm radio and mp3 as standard. Surely the idea of newer smartphones is more choice not less.

I’ve got a Galaxy S3 mini and use the FM radio regularly.It also has a record facility which I use to record my favourite programmes. An FM radio was one of the reasons I got it but the record facility was an added,unexpected bonus.

My Samsung s4 mini has FM radio which works well.

I have a Nokia Lumia 520, a very basic smartphone but it still comes with an FM radio. All the mobiles I’ve owned including the most basic have had a built-in FM radio – it was always a deal breaker for me.

I’m amazed to hear that any smartphones come without a built-in radio. As a paygo user data streaming isn’t an option for me so FM is essential.

I recently upgraded from a Samsung S2 to S4. Whilst the new phone is undoubtly better in many ways (quicker, longer battery life) I really miss the opportunity to listen to the radio when out walking. I haven’t tried streaming – really mindful of data usage and limits. An FM/DAB radio would be brilliant – my next phone choice will be made on that basis!

The best two phones I’ve had with FM radio were from Nokia. The first, the 8300, is now about 15 years old (and while I used to have 3 or 4, I “lost” them (thrown out by my sister, I suspect) when I moved. Second was the Nokia Xpress Radio (which needed no headphones to work).

As for modern mobiles, I ALWAYS use an Android App called TuneIn Pro (cheap, and they offer a free version for people to try them out).

Unlimited data on Three means I can stream audio all day with no worries. Unlimited tethering allows laptops and other things to connect to the net via my phone.

As for FM/DAB radio, one problem would be the power consumption for DAB, because it’s a digitial stream that needs decoding with extra processing compared to FM, and on portables, was reputed to chew up batteries, at least the earliest models.

I’m not in favour of the “switchover” to digital from FM, but if it goes ahead, all the major stations would be moved off FM, leaving it (for a while) for “community” stations, so the need for FM might eventually disappear for listening to BBC R1, 2, 3, 4.

Rather than having FM broadcasts, or even DAB, it would really make sense for the most popular 10-15 stations to be broadcast as a signal by all the cell towers, which your mobile already spends its time “listening to” (waiting for a call, text, or checking if your phone needs to switch to another cell mast as you move from area to area). This would just be a broadcast, with no silly “data charges” or using this from your monthly allowance (and the cell masts are transmitting nearly all the time anyway, whether to people on calls, or just checking any registered users are still in their coverage area.

If the cell towers were broadcasting in “multicast” mode, any phone could receive the signals and decode to give you the main national services (including BBC R 5 for sport/news) and the phones would not need to transmit for this to work – it would be like the FM signal, 1 transmit and as many listeners as possible. Clearly there’d be some need to debate which stations could be included, and people wanting others would need radio apps unless their phone could handle FM / DAB.

FM RADIO a must to have feature . A recording scheduler a bonus. Cjd

When my last phone died, having an excellent FM radio, I spent a lot of time looking for a replacement. Like other commentators, my main use of my phone is listening to the radio. Many phones were advertised as having FM. Nokia was awful, I tried 3 models, as were others I cannot remember. I ended up with an xperia u, a temperamental phone but excellent FM.in don’t know what I’ll do when this one dies.

I use an old Sony Erricsson with excellent FM radio.
Nokia C5 really disappointed with the FM radio.
New Blackberry 9720, FANTASTIC FM radio.

Yup I can see Tunein would be great but most places I stay have no, or still very expensive, or poor wifi, and at home mine doesn’t reach down the garden.

It is a pity that there is still no mobile phone available having a DAB+ chip. Would be something for a manufacturer to stand-out.

There is one way to get FM on an iphone. iFM by Allputer

see: http://allputer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2086

I cant ubderstand them scrapping fm. Internet conection radio is rarely smooth and regularly cutting out. The big manufacturers are loosing a lot of customers because of this. On a possitive note the latest nokia lumia 930 has fm radio

The inclusion of DAB on a smartphone would require the use of more battery power and you’d need a far bigger battery to get the same amount of use out of your phone. Very simply DAB is broadcast in Multiplexes and all the radio stations on the multiplex are sent out as one channel. Your DAB radio has to receive and decode the entire multiplex before finding the channel you want to listen to. FM radio is much simpler and there is one station per channel which in turn uses less power to listen to.

Everything that DAB can do except the inclusion of extra (niche) stations can be done with an FM radio, especially on a smart phone. For example current track, show, station information can all be done by RDS. Recording and playback will depend on the software on your phone but is again possible. DAB is also useless if traveling with your phone/radio in the USA as they don’t use DAB and have another system.

Certainly FM & DAB radio should be standard, along with retention of the standard 3.5mm headphone socket. I’d also like a return to batteries you can replace as opposed to the hard wired types and wouldn’t mind a new phone being slightly thicker to accomodate those with a little more power.