It has been a long, slow process to get FM chips installed and activated in mobile devices. And there are still holdouts as the iPhone. NextRadio has been a advocate of FM chip activation, noting that FM radio may be the only source of emergency information in times of crisis. Now a new product to debut at the upcoming NAB Show next month may end the chip/no chip debate. Blackloud says that its AF1 and CF1 earphones will provide anyone access to FM radio using their existing smartphones or tablets without needing major phone vendors to unlock the FM chip within those devices.
The AF1 buds are designed for iPhones and iPads using the Lightning interface while CF1 are designed for devices with Type-C interfaces and do not need to have Wi-Fi or 4G/LTE coverage to listen to FM radio stations. Blackloud says that the headsets will also support telephony sessions, VoIP sessions, video conference sessions, as well as audio playback using any app.
The secret to FM reception is that AF1 and CF1 come with their own RF reception chip. The FSi4705 FM/RDS receiver digital tuner IC from Silicon Labs is in a 3 x 3 mm, 20-pin QFN package, and is located inside the “control box” or case enclosure located on the wire/lanyard portion of the headset.
Read full story in Radio World (US)
Blackloud Delivers Radio on Mobile Devices
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