Tunein Radio

 One of the most useful apps for smartphones today is "Tunein radio" which allows your phone access to many, many more radio stations than you'd have ever thought possible. After recently looking at the inbuilt FM Radio application for the android operated Samsung Galaxy S2 some have asked "What about AM radio?"...well this is why Tunein is brilliant. Let me explain.

At the moment android phones AREN'T built with an in built AM radio receiver (or an MW one if you prefer MW radio). Using the radio technology of phones will generally only allow you to pick up FM frequencies. However using the internet you can pick up almost any radio station and that's where Tunein comes in and turns your phone into a mobile radio capable of receiving the full range of services including DAB (Digital radio) stations.

To use the application you can either navigate using the vast number of menu's (as shown above right) or click on the little search icon (in the top right corner) and type in the radio station name. For the example on the right we're using BBC Radio 5 Live (as you can see by the channels name). The channel in question cannot be listened to during normal hours via the FM frequencies (though it does take over the night shifts of some local stations) though thanks to Tunein radio you can listen to it in digital quality anywhere with the phone.

Th app, although fantastic, does have 1 major drawback which isn't actually the apps fault. It does require internet access so if your on a mobile data allowance you may want to be somewhat reserved when using the application. If you have a wi-fi connection however you will find the app to be wonderful and open up a host of new options to you.

Tunein claim that they offer over 50,000 stations and have now started offering more search modes searching for things such as songs. If your a fan of music, sport, news or debate this is really the app for you!