> And that Nano was tiny, would be cool to have this feature back in current iPhones / Apple Watches.
That iPod used its headphone cables as the radio antenna. There's no easy way around that for a SmartWatch, and most people wouldn't be happy to carry a USB-C antenna dongle around with them for their iPhone.
You can of course start doing black RF magic with more compact antenna designs, but that's much more complex and still has a much larger footprint on the board than the FM receiver in that iPod nano has.
Ohh right yeah, I remember once reading about the headphone-cable-is-antenna, clever!
I guess that’s why we don’t see it anymore in devices, as everyone is using more wireless headphones.
That iPod used its headphone cables as the radio antenna. There's no easy way around that for a SmartWatch, and most people wouldn't be happy to carry a USB-C antenna dongle around with them for their iPhone.
You can of course start doing black RF magic with more compact antenna designs, but that's much more complex and still has a much larger footprint on the board than the FM receiver in that iPod nano has.