Future LG smartphones to have working FM radio chips in North America, Latin America

There are several apps that let you stream radio stations on your smartphone, but soon LG handsets will be getting another, less battery intensive way to listen to FM radio.

LG has partnered with NextRadio to enable FM radio chips in its future smartphones in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. This means that future LG handsets will be able to tune in to local over the air radio stations and get audio emergency alerts, even if cellular coverage is unusable or unavailable.

LG will also preload the NextRadio app on several of its phones, subject to agreements with wireless carriers.

Listening to over the air FM radio has a couple of benefits compared to using streaming radio apps. NextRadio touts that using a phone’s FM radio chip uses 3 times less battery and 20 times less data than streaming radio apps.

FM radio chips are popular in many countries around the globe, and so it’s nice that future LG smartphones in North America and Latin America will get their FM radio chips enabled, too. This gives consumers more choice when it comes to listening to audio on their smartphone, and more choice is always a good thing.

source: androidandme