Canada Research Lab Makes Android FM Radio

Here's something neat - Canada's Communications Research Centre wrote an Android app (and a software library) that wakes up the FM radio tuner in Samsung Galaxy S phones where the functionality has been disabled or not implemented in the first place.

The Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant that I bought through SaskTel does have a built-in FM tuner and an app to listen to FM radio, but that app crashes randomly every 30 minutes or so, which is annoying.

Why FM radio instead of streaming internet radio on a smartphone? FM radio is great for tuning in immediately to local programming, instead of waiting for a feed to buffer. Also, in some settings - like my cubicle at work - users can't get a solid data connection for streaming radio.

So far FM TwoO seems to be a solid application in terms of functionality. In fact, it does more than the built-in app:

It's user interface has room for improvement, but I think it's just a concept app. Hopefully someone takes the software library that the CRC wrote and makes something beautiful.

Soured through: http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/03/14/thank-you-canada-unused-fm-app-for-samsung-galaxy-s-now-in-play/