Touch Pro 2 FM Radio Questions/Answers

[imnuts]

Originally Posted by bigirb2002

there is no fm radio chip in the sprint touch pro/touch pro 2.all im saying is i have fixed both gsm and cdma touch pro`s diamonds` and touch pro 2`s the diamond and gsm touch pros have a fm chip. which i noticed is Motorola chip .the ones with working fm radio had broadcome chips. so to conclude we will never have fm radio. i was thinking about soldering a brodcome chip in place of motorola if somone would let me borro a sprint tp2 and have a broken gms tp i could test it

You may want to read up on the TP2 more then. This device has an FM receiver chip built into the bluetooth chip. If you look at the FCC docs, you get a clear picture of the Broadcom chip in the phone, and if you look up the product specs for the chip in the picture, it does bluetooth and FM radio. The question is how the radio was disable in the TP2's, whether it's done via software/firmware somehow, or if the hardware itself was disable by not soldering pins or something similar from the chip, but it most definitely is there, unless they managed to get a device approved and then switched out the bluetooth chip without further approval from the FCC.

[cr08]

Originally Posted by imnuts

You may want to read up on the TP2 more then. This device has an FM receiver chip built into the bluetooth chip. If you look at the FCC docs, you get a clear picture of the Broadcom chip in the phone, and if you look up the product specs for the chip in the picture, it does bluetooth and FM radio. The question is how the radio was disable in the TP2's, whether it's done via software/firmware somehow, or if the hardware itself was disable by not soldering pins or something similar from the chip, but it most definitely is there, unless they managed to get a device approved and then switched out the bluetooth chip without further approval from the FCC.

I was about to say the same thing to him. The broadcom chip used basically does triple duty: Bluetooth, WiFi, and FM radio.

If I recall from reading this and other threads, all the FM radio functions ran as a subset of the bluetooth functionality so it seems it would be disabled in software (or whatever the base firmware in the phone may be?). If they disabled it in hardware the bluetooth would be dead to. At least this is my educated guess after reading about it here.

[imnuts]

Originally Posted by cr08

I was about to say the same thing to him. The broadcom chip used basically does triple duty: Bluetooth, WiFi, and FM radio.

If I recall from reading this and other threads, all the FM radio functions ran as a subset of the bluetooth functionality so it seems it would be disabled in software (or whatever the base firmware in the phone may be?). If they disabled it in hardware the bluetooth would be dead to. At least this is my educated guess after reading about it here.

I have no idea how the chip works or what the pins all do on it, but it's possible that something isn't soldered to the board the way it needs to be. I would agree though that it seems to be more of a software/firmware "issue" that needs to be fixed though.

[cr08]

Originally Posted by imnuts

I have no idea how the chip works or what the pins all do on it, but it's possible that something isn't soldered to the board the way it needs to be. I would agree though that it seems to be more of a software/firmware "issue" that needs to be fixed though.

Well if you do enough searching here on it some people mention it using a separate bluetooth audio gateway and some BT commands. And if I remember correctly it was also said that for the FM tuner cab to even function that bluetooth needed to be enabled and on. Keep in mind that WiFi is also on this chip too and functions fine without bluetooth being on.

So that is why I am guessing that the physical state of the chip is not the issue but it is locked out in software.

The only thing that may truly be a hardware thing is a possible separate lead for the antenna off the chip and routed to the headphone port. Anyone got a spec sheet on this chip with a pinout?

Also those who have the FM tuner app working (but obviously no reception) can you try manually tuning to a localised transmitter like an FM transmitter on an mp3 player or something? Bring the phone within feet of it or less and see if it will pick it up? Just a shot in the dark but if by the odd chance it picks up something this might say 'ok. The fm tuner actually does work, but the antenna pin/lead is missing somewhere so reception outside of a handful of feet is impossible.'. Again, just a shot in the dark but an easy test.

EDIT: Yeah, here's the particular post I was referring to: http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.p...2&postcount=91

[cr08]

Found a few pages here worth reading for further clarification:

http://pdfserv.datasheetpro.net/Broa...325-PB00-R.pdf -- If you look at the visual layout of the chip, the FM receiver doesn't have a direct connection to the host device but passes through the Bluetooth section before it reaches the host. So since the bluetooth on the TP2 works, so should the FM tuner. The only possible explanations at this rate are a) software/SPL limitations or lockouts or b) The antenna lead on the FM side of the chip is disconnected so it won't pick up anything beyond a few feet.

Still no luck finding a true datasheet with a pinout though.

[oneders65]

Just thought I would bump the thread to see if anyone has had any sucess getting the FM radio to work on CDMA TP2... Now that the phone can be unlocked hopefully someone can crack the secret to whats disabling it. Hopefully it is not a hardware issue!

[constitutionalist]

Originally Posted by oneders65

Just thought I would bump the thread to see if anyone has had any sucess getting the FM radio to work on CDMA TP2... Now that the phone can be unlocked hopefully someone can crack the secret to whats disabling it. Hopefully it is not a hardware issue!

I think at the end of the day we'll figure this one out too, just as we have so many other instances where our self-destructive providers have unnecessary hobbled some perfectly good feature.

I've always wanted to meet the employee who had on his wall the famous poem extolling the virtues of mediocrity, but apparently those weasels only work behind the scenes to impose their ideal on the rest of us. Still, we'll fix it. And by "we", I mean the clever guys that actually do the grunt work and the rest of us who will no doubt enjoy their fruit.

[xTSFx]

Originally Posted by cr08

Well if you do enough searching here on it some people mention it using a separate bluetooth audio gateway and some BT commands. And if I remember correctly it was also said that for the FM tuner cab to even function that bluetooth needed to be enabled and on. Keep in mind that WiFi is also on this chip too and functions fine without bluetooth being on.

So that is why I am guessing that the physical state of the chip is not the issue but it is locked out in software.

The only thing that may truly be a hardware thing is a possible separate lead for the antenna off the chip and routed to the headphone port. Anyone got a spec sheet on this chip with a pinout?

Also those who have the FM tuner app working (but obviously no reception) can you try manually tuning to a localised transmitter like an FM transmitter on an mp3 player or something? Bring the phone within feet of it or less and see if it will pick it up? Just a shot in the dark but if by the odd chance it picks up something this might say 'ok. The fm tuner actually does work, but the antenna pin/lead is missing somewhere so reception outside of a handful of feet is impossible.'. Again, just a shot in the dark but an easy test.

EDIT: Yeah, here's the particular post I was referring to: http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.p...2&postcount=91

How close? I can try this today. My actual transmitter broke, but i can go the the actual radio station. Just dont know how close. >.< lol

[joeramirez]

Bump... Anything to aid the FM Radio from the newest ROM dump today? I know I'm dreaming but it's worth a shot.

[marcus_cruz]

Had to chime in here.. It's really think SPL locked. Essentially the bootloader never signals that area of the controller to fire up the FM capabilities of the BCM chip. Like the imagio does, or the GSM based phones. So then the OS boots and never sees a FM tuner. Kinda like if you had a new machine/pc built and the bios didnt detect the hard drive, then the OS wont see it either. Now it's different with phones as most of the code is writen by the phone manufacturer, so they tell the microcontroller what devices to turn on.
Maybe I shouldnt say locked, maybe a better term would be "Not enabled". Now that we have an unlocked phone, thanks to cmonex, oli and elite team, I can test some items I was working on back then. Now if HTC would just give me the full source. <--LOL