Nexus One Smartphone To Finally Receive FM Radio Support

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I think it was made pretty clear during Google I/O that Google had no plans of adding an FM Radio to the Nexus One — despite the fact that the phone has the capability to do so. That said, it looks like Nexus One users may soon get that feature anyway.

Of course, the caveat here is that you must be willing to install and run a custom ROM. Yup, the FM Radio support on the Nexus One will end up being delivered by the Android hacking community and not directly from Google. And yes, I realize that will limit those who will actually be able to enjoy FM Radio on a Nexus One.

That said, the news is coming by way of an xda-developers member by the name of intersectRaven who has recently released a kernel patch that will allow other developers to add the desired FM Radio functionality into their ROM’s. And yes, it was a kernel patch that was released, which in turn means you are not going to find a download link for a ROM at present. Slight bummer there, but think of this as a first and necessary step towards that ROM.

With that, those who are more familiar with custom ROM’s on Android will likely recognize this name, but Paul O’Brien from the Modaco forums has already posted a message letting everyone know its in the works.

“Cool, FM radio working in my forthcoming Froyo Sense (r23) port for Nexus One thanks to intersectraven’s kernel!”

Otherwise, this basically means the support should be here sooner than later. But in the meantime, we are still left waiting. That said, are there really that many people that want FM Radio support? I may get some snide comments here but I have not listened to regular radio in years, and even chuckled when I saw the FM Radio app on the Droid X that I have been testing.