FM Radio: Receive & Transmit. :) - Sony Xperia P, U, Sola, Go

It appears that at least one person's Sola is capable of transmitting an FM signal over short distances. I imagine many others can transmit as well as P, U & Go but I'm not sure yet.
If this works widely, these will be among the very few Android phones that can transmit FM, and the only widely available 2012 device I'm aware of. The only other is the T-Mobile/HTC Mytouch 4G and it's also unofficial.
I'll get an app posted soon that can be used to test. I don't have any of these phones, but a Sola owner is helping me a lot. I expect to get one soon, perhaps a U.
Probably most of you in the Sony world aren't aware of my Spirit FM app, since I've been unable to support most; see my sig.
I'm in the design phase for Spirit2 and it will use the ST-Ericsson proposed Android FM API slowly making it's way into AOSP over the last few years. Spirit2 info also in signature at bottom.
Happily for some Sony 2012 device owners, and more-so for cg2900 based device users, this is the API Sony uses in Radio3.apk. CG2900 devices may be the only ones with FM transmit at present though.
I understand the General section isn't for questions, but if mods are OK with it, I'd be interested in "discussing opinions" (which happens in General all the time) about which phone might be best for my development work on this FM API.
Feel free to ask any questions related to FM. I presume people can do that in an info thread. And yes, I've ensured there are no question marks in this post, LOL.
So these are the devices I'm considering, preceded with their best shipped prices in Canadian $ on Ebay:
$ 210 U ST25i
$ 230 Sola MT27i
$ 240 Go ST27i
$ 300 P LT22i
My take reading a bit here is that P is the "best", and as old as U, but U has more custom ROM development.
I'm presuming the carrier unlocked devices, mostly from Hong Kong or China, are also boot-loader unlocked. I think I should avoid local devices, such as from Rogers here in Canada, because they have locked boot-loaders.
I just need a good phone for testing both stock and custom ROMs not normal use. I should probably wait until transmit capability is tested on a few phones successfully.

---

Wau, Mike You are genius! Spirit fm on ste chipsets.. I have xperia p so i can test something

---

How to make it work?

---

XperianPro said:
How to make it work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How to make what work ?
The Nov 26 test release linked in post 1 of my thread should actually work on stock or stock derived devices, but I think it won't run a second time without rebooting.
I'll try to put out a test release in the next day or 2 that will work better. I have it running now w/ RDS on CM10 on my OneX LTE, using the libfmradio.sony-iris.so library found on the Xperia T and similar. And hopefully my Sola tester will report good results tomorrow.
There are still some potentially difficult issues on AOSP type ROMs such as FreeXperia etc., mostly audio related. Audio issues are my most difficult task but stock ROMs make it easy. At least this FM chip is V4L and easy to enable on custom kernels, unlike Broadcom & TI combo chips that can be a pain with bluetooth issues.
BTW, these devices can support FM recording, on stock ROMs at least. I guess most Sony's can.
I looked a bit at the Snowball dev kits for cg2900 etc. None of them support FM, just like the TI Panda & virtually all dev boards. I have to imagine the regulatory issues are a pain.
...
I almost hate to say it, but I wouldn't be here in the Sony forums if the Android API used by Spirit2 wasn't hosted natively on these devices. Cg2900 devices especially seem to be the reference platform for this ST-Ericsson originated API.
I've intended to focus Spirit2 only on the most popular devices with custom ROMs; mostly Samsungs and HTCs. It's WAY too much work to support devices I don't own for testing, and to try to support more than a few dozen devices, of the thousand(s) out there.
And yet stock Sony's support this API, so it's difficult to say I won'
t officially support them. Anyway, consider this a warning that I might decide not to officially supported stock unrooted Sony's at least. My niche is FM on custom ROMs; and average "normal" smartphone users aren't really my target.

---

Hi,
Here is a little FM transmit test app. Audio is not working yet but you can get a signal and see RDS data on another radio
How it works :
Turn on a radio on 87.5 Mhz
Make sure a headset is connected to your device as it works like an antenna
Open the app and wait 5 seconds.
Click on the Freq 87500 button
Click on the RDS button
Now if you place your device next to your radio you should get a signal and see "Test RDS written". The signal strengh is not very good so it can be hard to have RDS.
To stop transmit just open the stock FM radio app.
Feedback is appreciated on every STE devices

---

Kess78 said:
Hi,
Here is a little FM transmit test app. Audio is not working yet but you can get a signal and see RDS data on another radio
How it works :
Turn on a radio on 87.5 Mhz
Make sure a headset is connected to your device as it works like an antenna
Open the app and wait 5 seconds.
Click on the Freq 87500 button
Click on the RDS button
Now if you place your device next to your radio you should get a signal and see "Test RDS written". The signal strengh is not very good so it can be hard to have RDS.
To stop transmit just open the stock FM radio app.
Feedback is appreciated on every STE devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it first run was good
but next run get FC
try to uninstall and then install but no luck!

---

freshbooy said:
it first run was good
but next run get FC
try to uninstall and then install but no luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for feedback
You have to open and close the stock FM app after you use the app to reset everything.
Also make sure you wait 5 seconds after opening the app before pressing the freq button.

---

Kess78 said:
Hi,
Here is a little FM transmit test app. Audio is not working yet but you can get a signal and see RDS data on another radio
How it works :
Turn on a radio on 87.5 Mhz
Make sure a headset is connected to your device as it works like an antenna
Open the app and wait 5 seconds.
Click on the Freq 87500 button
Click on the RDS button
Now if you place your device next to your radio you should get a signal and see "Test RDS written". The signal strengh is not very good so it can be hard to have RDS.
To stop transmit just open the stock FM radio app.
Feedback is appreciated on every STE devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks kess !
BTW, I think that not every FM radio (especially non-smartphone radios) can go down to 87.5. US radios in particular may only go down to 87.9 or 88.1.
For anyone reporting, please report your device, where you got the device, and ROM. Looking at freshbooy's posts I guess he also has a Sola but I don't want to search through everyone's posts or guess.
And for now at least, we're just trying to see if transmit works. It's not particularly usable with no audio, and we can't be sure if audio can even work. I think audio will work, when figured out, but we'll have to see.
So that's two reports from Sola that are positive; Can we get reports for U, P & Go ?
I'm asking "where you got the device" because of my concerns that transmit might be somehow disabled on variants from specific regions or carriers, so please specify the country &/or carrier you purchased from.
I think that only stock or stock derived ROMs have a chance of working with this current FM transmit app.
I can't stress enough how weak the signal may be, and to see RDS data requires a VERY clean signal. For testing it's probably best to loosely wrap the full length of the Xperia wired headset cable around the full length of the antenna of the FM receiver. We may be able to increase power; we tried but first attempt didn't succeed.

---

I would appreciate getting more feedback on FM transmit, particularly from Xperia U, P or anything ending in 'a' for North American 3g frequencies.
I have experimental transmit in Spirit, but haven't posted it anywhere yet.
I'm about to buy a U, and I guess it will be ST25a so I can use the 3G here with Bell Canada.
AFAICT, the 'a' models still have FM (receive at least, I think.)
I guess if the vendor allows returns, I can consider that if transmit doesn't work.

---

Are you the spirit fm developer then? If so, please make it work for our Xperia S Jellybean roms. A lot of people will love you forever if you do!
Sent from my Jellybean Xperia S

---

Ben36 said:
Are you the spirit fm developer then? If so, please make it work for our Xperia S Jellybean roms. A lot of people will love you forever if you do!
Sent from my Jellybean Xperia S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Are you to whom I just sent this email response ? :
Generally I say no to all Sony support questions.
But I've been adding support for some stock Sony devices, including the Xperia S. This is in preparation for Spirit2 using the AOSPish FM API. But it won't work on CM or other AOSP ROMs.
You can send me a debug log with Menu-> Email Logs. (Menu-> Test-> Email-> Logs on free version.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

---

Dec. 4 test release of Spirit FM Free: http://d-h.st/HDa
Not tested on anything but HTC OneX LTE and Sony Xperia Sola MT27i.
Unofficial support for some stock Sony 2012 devices. Transmit on CG2900 devices: U ST25i, Sola MT27i, Go ST27i, P LT22i.
FreeXperia and other AOSP ROMs not supported, but S4/S4+ devices may work rooted with OneX LTE etc support.
CG2900 (libfmradio.cg2900.so): U ST25i, Sola MT27i, Go ST27i, P LT22i
Broadcom proprietary (libfmradio.brcm-prop_rx.so): S LT26i, Acro S, Ion (Not sure about Xperia Miro, Tipo, J)
Qualcomm WCN3660 (libfmradio.sony-iris.so): T LT30p, TX LT29i, V LT25i
FM Transmit test mode: Ensure wired headset is plugged in and wrapped in a "long way" along the length of a test receiver antenna. Set Debug-> FM Chip to "STE AFM TX" and restart Spirit. Can frequency be changed without restart ? There will likely be no audio.
Use seek down and seek up set different RDS data patterns.
FM Receive mode: either use automatic settings, or set Debug-> FM Chip to "STE AFM RX", set Audio-> Method to "Sony/STE/Android" and restart Spirit.

---

Hey mike nice to c u again I,was tryin ur test app on my Xu but the stock fm closes when.i launch this app...... Also I tested its signal on a mobile... N does it req unlocked boatloader coz I didn't unlocked mine
Sent from my ST25I using xda app-developers app

---

manukohli said:
Hey mike nice to c u again I,was tryin ur test app on my Xu but the stock fm closes when.i launch this app...... Also I tested its signal on a mobile... N does it req unlocked boatloader coz I didn't unlocked mine
Sent from my ST25I using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
If I may awnser you, you don't need to have the stock FM app running while you're starting the app. Can you try again without running the stock FM app ?

---

Kess78 said:
Hi,
If I may awnser you, you don't need to have the stock FM app running while you're starting the app. Can you try again without running the stock FM app ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tnx man but I was talking abt the transmitter test app it force colses if I open it directly
Sent from my ST25i

---

manukohli said:
Tnx man but I was talking abt the transmitter test app it force colses if I open it directly
Sent from my ST25i
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you try to open it after a fresh start of the phone?

---

manukohli said:
Hey mike nice to c u again I,was tryin ur test app on my Xu but the stock fm closes when.i launch this app...... Also I tested its signal on a mobile... N does it req unlocked boatloader coz I didn't unlocked mine
Sent from my ST25I using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't run the stock FM app at the same time. It might work in the normal receive mode, & I'd like to hear if that works, but I don't know.
Bootloader lock doesn't matter. All that matters is that you have a stock or stock derived ROM.

---

mikereidis said:
Don't run the stock FM app at the same time. It might work in the normal receive mode, & I'd like to hear if that works, but I don't know.
Bootloader lock doesn't matter. All that matters is that you have a stock or stock derived ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried ur spirit fm... It works fime as an fm app.... But I couldn't figure out the fm transmission part
-------
Ok tried transmission..... went to debug n changed the chip to the 'Tx' one... But could still hear the fm n could change frequency.... But after restarting app.. Lost sound but could still change frequency
Sent from my ST25i
---------- Post added at 07:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 AM ----------
@ kess78 ...
It opens up for once after reboot. ... Headset plugged in... I click on 87500 button... Then on rds button. ... But nothing happens not on my phone nor on other phone's radio tuned onto 87.5
P.s. I m from india.. so regional band problem can b there
Sent from my ST25i

---

Hmm that's not very good news
iDid you try to put the phones and the two antenna very close together??
Thanks for feedback

---

Kess78 said:
Hmm that's not very good news
iDid you try to put the phones and the two antenna very close together??
Thanks for feedback
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup kept both fones side by side....
Say I uninstall ur app.. Reboot.. Reinstall it. ... Now tell me d steps to follow
Sent from my ST25i