fm_radio
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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.Solved1.9KViews1like18Comments