Forum Discussion
Trade in our phones or carry a separate FM Radio?
Finally my wife and I both made the jump into buying our first brand new smartphones (before we always had used ones). In 2019 we got a Pixel 3a XL for the wife and then in 2020 I got a Pixel 4a. The plan was to take care of these for at least 3 years and then change them out for something else after they're worn out or something else becomes a must-have.
But we've come to the realization that there's one feature that these phones don't have and now we see as important… FM Radio. The valley where we live is fed by a single data cable that feeds all internet, all cellular towers and even all home phones across all service providers, not just T-Mobile. And during the past year this data line has been cut twice rendering our town out of communication for several days. Depending on where you're at in the valley, it's 60 to 100 miles over treacherous mountain passes (especially in the winter) to the next place where there's a connection.
When that has happened the only way to get any information of what's going on is by radio since all local radio stations broadcast up-to-date information from the local authorities on the matter. As a result, when this happened I found myself rummaging through the drawer where I have some old electronics to see if I could find any old device that has an FM radio to carry around and ended up finding an old tape player that uses AA batteries. I also distinctly remember our old Lumias and non-smart phones always had an FM radio app.
So, maybe we'll just use the Pixels like they are for now and keep the tape player handy for an emergency. But I still keep thinking it would be more convenient to just have phones that have a built in FM radio and carry around pair of ear buds, which is what we do anyway. At times I even think it might be better to just get an old Lumia or other old phone with an FM radio app and pay off and sell the new ones.
I would suggest the LG V60, if that fits with what you need. The last LG I had was a V30, but FM worked perfectly fine on it. The V series from LG have always focused on audio and video. If LG had stuck with the same styling as the V30, I would have picked up a V60. Hopefully someone with a V60 can chime in to confirm if FM works on it. A call to LG Support or a visit to LG's forum might also net you some good info as to if the V60 has what is needed to pick up FM.
itdefbechill wrote:
Why not just buy a fm radio, they are dirt cheap. I just bought a lg boom for 100 bucks. You could buy a even cheaper one. Amazon had one for 20 dollars. Why would you want a old garbage phone that is slow, has security leaks, will never be updated, no oled, for a 20 dollar radio.
Because I don't want to carry around two devices that could be one. I already have enough stuff in my pockets as it is. Wallet, phone, keys, and now a radio… That's more pocket bulge and another device to keep track of.
What will almost certainly happen is that I’d end up going through all the trouble of carrying this device around for in case of emergency and the day I forget to grab it or I lose it or I just get plane sick of carrying it around will be the day I need it.
Sure, having a smartphone with all it's nice modern features is, well, nice. But the main reason for having a phone IMO is for safety. I want to be able to call someone if I have a flat tire, if my kid gets injured and needs an ambulance, or to find out what the weather's like or the road conditions or how's the pandemic going or if there's a terrorist attack going on or if the forest is on fire or if the dam broke or if I was supposed to buy apples or bananas or both. And having an FM radio is a safety feature. Any list of common items to have for emergencies will always include a radio.
Imagine if they took away the flashlight ability on smartphones. Would you then carry around a flash light just in case you might need it?
So yes, I may carry around an FM radio for now since we got our Pixels not that long ago. But it's kind of a pain.
syaoran wrote:
I would suggest the LG V60, if that fits with what you need. The last LG I had was a V30, but FM worked perfectly fine on it. The V series from LG have always focused on audio and video. If LG had stuck with the same styling as the V30, I would have picked up a V60. Hopefully someone with a V60 can chime in to confirm if FM works on it. A call to LG Support or a visit to LG’s forum might also net you some good info as to if the V60 has what is needed to pick up FM.
the LG V60 has the FM radio app set up in there..personally havent used it but took a quick look and its in there.
syaoran wrote:
I would suggest the LG V60, if that fits with what you need. The last LG I had was a V30, but FM worked perfectly fine on it. The V series from LG have always focused on audio and video. If LG had stuck with the same styling as the V30, I would have picked up a V60. Hopefully someone with a V60 can chime in to confirm if FM works on it. A call to LG Support or a visit to LG's forum might also net you some good info as to if the V60 has what is needed to pick up FM.
the V60 has the FM radio app in there..i have yet to mess with it though. might be able to scrounge up a headset here at work to try it out if needed.
The Samsung S8 actually has an FM radio. But there are Issues. First, there is this app, NextRadio, that, on a radio-enabled phone, could let one tune the radio, select favorites, and so on. Problem: the developers couldn't make money on it, so the streaming and an ability to search for a radio station by name or type evaporated. It's abandonware these days, but one can still get it on the Play Store.
Second: FM is real, live radio, with a wavelength in 3 meter range. There's a reason that even cheapie FM radios come With a whip or, like in the S8 case, use the headphone cables as an antenna. A modern cell phone like an iPhone with no audio jack, well, it's not going to cut it.
Contrary to popular rumor, many current phones don't have the FM chip. That rumor about chips being generally disabled got started when particular carriers, with Verizon as the poster child for this behavior, would disable the FM chip in their firmware loads so they could force their customers to use more streaming data, before the advent of common unlimited plans. Thing is, T-Mobile was, and probably still is, one of the good guys in this regard, and has always generally enabled the FM chip if a phone has one.
Valid, I surmise my defintion of present day doesnt equivalent yours. In the event that it doesnt have a 120hz oled, 1440 or more resoultion, snap winged serpent 865 or more, and 6gbs of smash it isnt present day to me. I mean short the lg one every one of those different telephones your discussing would be beat by más seasoned telephones. My razer telephone 2 with a 120hz drove screen would beat each one of those telephones less the lg. So I dont call low end telephones with gsrbage computer processors more awful than snap mythical beast 835 which is 4 years of age a cutting edge telephone.
The snapdragon 845 in the s9, note 9, and others would crush each one of those low end telephones. So one current telephone the lg 60 has a fm radio.
Actualización:
The past few weeks I've been using a ZTE Cymbal Z-320 which thankfully has FM radio. This is so much handier in my case. I'm not sure what I'll do with the Pixel 4a I'm still paying for, but maybe I'll sell it and pay off the debt with the earnings.
I’ve found a solution to phones not having FM radio anymore:
Bluetooth headphones that have FM (or maybe even AM) radio built in.
I decided to go back to the Pixel 4a as I'd like to have smarphone capabilities again. But I wasn't going to without FM radio. So I decided to get a Bluetooth headset that has FM radio built in. It works, that's all I can say.
The bluetooth headset is a pain in the butt, even if it has FM radio. I really hate my Pixel.
The other day someone showed me their Motorola. I'm not sure exactly what model it was, but it could play FM radio without headphones plugged in! I'm jealous!
