Some issues.

[gabbai]

Hello guys, I am new here as i am new also on windows phone 7. Its seems a little complicated to use than the 6.5 WM. Although i would like to know how can i enable the loudspeaker when listening to radio and how to set a ring tone from an .mp3 format.

Thats all for now.

Thank you for reading.

Regards.
Emilio

 

[msft_tinkering]

No custom ringtones until Mango. But you could side load some if you pay $100 for a developer seat. Not sure about the radio.

 

[jimski]

No multitasking till Mango, so you can't listen to radio in the background just yet. On Zune player I supported right now. Several apps will allow the radio to play under lockscreen but it has to be the last app you had open.

As noted, for now you need a developer unlocked device to load custom ringtones. But the too will become available with the Mango update.

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[camaroguy]

I am not sure what you are talking about with regars to the radio. You certainly can listen to it in the background, its a built in MS app and CAN multitask. The question was listening to the radio with the loudspeaker. This is not possible because it uses the headphone cord as the antenna.

 

[jimski]

I am not sure what you are talking about with regars to the radio. You certainly can listen to it in the background, its a built in MS app and CAN multitask. The question was listening to the radio with the loudspeaker. This is not possible because it uses the headphone cord as the antenna.

Ok, never mind. I was talking about third party radio apps, that you can listen to through the speaker and under lockscreen, but not multitask. Actually have not even tried the built-in radio app but suppose it works the same as WinMo. Never tried it, but I guess an external speaker would work with the radio, the cord serving as the antenna but the speaker broadcasting the sound. May have to give that a try.

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[Adiliyo]

you can't use the radio via the speaker since it uses the headphone cable as an antenna.

because of that, it won't run without the headphones plugged in.

 

[jimski]

Right. But a portable speaker has a cable, right. So the length of wire is doing the same thing. On my Tilt2 I used a 12" length of wire with BT headphones on a 3rd party radio app. Any wired headphones will work. Think I may just pull out an old speaker and give this a try.

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[jimski]

Ok, in case anybody cares. Plugging in a pair a non-powered speakers "will" work with the Microsoft Radio app. The speaker wires serve as the antenna just like with headphones. It was not that loud but the speakers are about 15 years old so technology has probably improved. I have seen portable speakers for iPhones that I think use a battery for power and cost $10-15. That would be a nice setup.

Btw, I tried the BT headphones with a short, clipped off headphone wire but that did not work. As soon as you plug in, the BT turns off. Was worth a try. There was a radio app for WM6.5 that enabled BT which made that trick work, but don't expect to see that kind of workaround for WP.

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[jimski]

Sorry for the multiple posts, but just found a pair of USB powered speakers. Pluged them into my Portable USB charger for power and they are playing Microsoft radio right now, plenty loud.

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[Adiliyo]

also, if you just want to use the speaker on the phone, here's how to do it (i just found out today)

1. plug in headphones
2. tune to the station you want
3. longpress on the station
4. choose radio mode: speaker.

presto!

 

[EJNelly]

After playing with mine for a bit my gf decided she might want a Trophy. No Pandora and radio requiring the headphones was a deal breaker for her. She might just be getting a Trophy now.

 

[jimski]

also, if you just want to use the speaker on the phone, here's how to do it (i just found out today)



1. plug in headphones

2. tune to the station you want

3. longpress on the station

4. choose radio mode: speaker.



presto!

Great tip. Thanks. Just tried to get the BT headphones to work in speaker mode but no go. Interesting though, while the music was playing I turned off the BT phones and the music paused, so the OS knew that BT was there. Maybe Microsoft will activate that option on in the future.

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[camaroguy]

Great tip. Thanks. Just tried to get the BT headphones to work in speaker mode but no go. Interesting though, while the music was playing I turned off the BT phones and the music paused, so the OS knew that BT was there. Maybe Microsoft will activate that option on in the future.

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So you plugged in a regular set of headphones so there was an antenna and the radio would play, and tried to switch to speaker mode and use the bluetooth headset to actually listen? Thats definately a serious edge case

 

[jimski]

So you plugged in a regular set of headphones so there was an antenna and the radio would play, and tried to switch to speaker mode and use the bluetooth headset to actually listen? Thats definately a serious edge case

Yep. That setup worked with a third party radio app in WM6.5. Actually, not headphones. A 12" length of wire with a 3.5mm plug at one end (effectively, an antenna). Not sure if Microsoft is opening the radio API to devs with Mango, but if so I am sure it will be possible soon.

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