What happened to the FM radio in Windows Phone 8?

Question

FM radio was a mandatory requirement of HW in Windows Phone 7, but it is not present on any current Windows Phone 8 device.
Why is there no FM radio in the music hub in WP8? Can we at least use the FMRadio API ?

Answer 1

According to MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj206947(v=vs.105).aspx

Windows Phone 8 does not support the FM radio function. If you use the FM radio API in the Windows Phone 8 application, a RadioDisabledException will occur.

Also from what I heard:

... the FM radio function was supposed to be enabled, but was disconnected from this release due to stability and time constraints.
(... I don't know if there are any plans to re-activate this feature in a future update.)

You can use this test to safely determine if FMRadio can be used on the current phone:

/// <summary> /// Flag is radio device is available in this phone. /// </summary> public bool IsRadioAvailable { get { if (!radioInitialized) { radioInitialized = true; try { radio = FMRadio.Instance; isRadioAvailable = true; } catch (RadioDisabledException e) { isRadioAvailable = false; } } return isRadioAvailable; } } private bool radioInitialized; private bool isRadioAvailable; private FMRadio radio; 

Update:
According to various sources, FM radio will be included in the upcoming Windows Phone 8 update, due in 2013.

Answer 2

I read that the Lumia 920 has FMRX and just needs to be "used." Not sure if they help in any way

Answer 3

FM-radio returns to the supported hardware in Windows Phone 8 'GDR2' (8.0.10327.77/78).

It is unclear whether API support is returning and how it behaves:

Attention:

FM radio is only supported in applications designed for Windows Phone 7.1. If you use the FMRadio class in applications designed for Windows Phone OS 8.0 or later, RadioDisabledException indicates that the FM radio function is not available. On Windows Phone 8 devices with build 8.0.10322 or higher, a runtime exception may not occur if you use the FMRadio API. However, the FMRadio API is not supported for applications that target Windows Phone OS 8.0.

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/microsoft.devices.radio.fmradio.frequency(v=vs.105).aspx

In other words, the Windows Runtime Windows API does not exist for radio control.

I just tried the FM radio app from the store, which really works.