Listen up Rebel scum; Apple may soon be making the iPhone 3GS fully operational. What’s that? You didn’t know your iPhone 3GS hasn’t hit puberty yet? Well, soon you may finally be able to use that FM radio that’s been hiding inside of your iPhone 3GS and/or iPod Touch (2nd Gen) unbeknownst to you this whole time.
According to a 9to5Mac tipster, Radio.app, as it’s referred to, will be allowed to run in the background a la the iPod.app we all know and love. It will function very similarly to the iPod nano’s FM radio app. A notable feature of the existing iPod nano app is its ability to pause live radio, and continue whenever you please, just like a DVR. It’s rumored that Apple wants to incorporate iTunes Store linking to songs played on radio stations broadcasting with RDS information (song metadata).
Now there’s always the possibility that this will actually be integrated into iPod.app before its final release, which is fine by me. You should know, though, that the tip gives no hard date, or even that it will be released “soon.” Still, it seems silly for Apple to include hardware you’ll never get to use.
Well, that’s not completely true. If you use your iPhone 3GS or iPod touch (2nd Gen) with some Nike+ gear, then you’ve used the FM radio already. Still, there’s so much more that could be done with this piece of hardware. Heck, it’s even able to function as an FM transmitter, though likely never will.
Personally, I’d love to see Radio.app see the light of day, though I’m not sure why. The reason I use an iPod is so that I can escape what passes for radio. But that’s just me. Anyone truly excited for FM radio support?
Enabling FM transmitter would be awesome. no more need to buy extra hardware to get your iPod to play on your car stereo.
TOTALLY excited!
The RDS can give you more experience and can swicth auto frequency radio when you are in journal or others area