N95: FM transmitters are here to stay

When the Nokia N78 was released, many were confused, and some still are confused on the purpose of a FM transmitter. Broadcasting audio output over FM radio can be useful, especially in a car, and it can be a replacement of the Bluetooth headset or car kit. Let’s try with a Nokia N95, which doesn’t have a FM transmitter built-in, but you can get one from any shop, at a cheap price.

You are going to hate me for that horrible flash that ruins the pictures, but I only get time at night to do write these articles, and at night….well there’s no sunshine.
The FM Transmitter plugs in to the N95 through the 3.5mm jack (God bless Nokia for the 3.5mm jack), but it needs power, that will be 12V DC through a tiny port at the side of the device. The Transmitter looks like an MP3 player, and it has a small display with a low lasting blue backlight. A car cigarette lighter cable is provided to plug in the power port.

Now we take it all to the car and plug it in. We set the frequency on the FM Transmitter to a empty channel to make sure it doesn’t interfere with any radio station. I selected 107.8MHz on mine.

The phone will recognise it as a pair of earphones, so we select that option. To test it, go to the Music application, and play any music that you like.

For this connection to work, you have to set the car radio at the same frequency, mine is 107.8MHz, but you can set it at any frequency you wish as long as there is nothing else on that channel.

The beauty of this device is that you can use it for anything your earphones work for, calls, VoIP, music, games, etc. So this means bye-bye to your Bluetooth headset….there it goes in the garbage bin:

These FM Transmitters are relatively cheap, you can get them at 10 US$, and at the end of the day you can just put it in your pocket. You music and phone calls will be outputted from your car speakers, so you can get rid of your Bluetooth car kits and headsets.

Related posts:

1. Nokia N78: My initial thoughts
2. N78: FM Transmitter demonstration
3. Nokia N8 FM Transmitter Review
4. Nokia N85 announced
5. Nokia N79 announced