This is a video app review of “TuneIn Radio” by the developer TuneIn, previously known as RadioTime.  Version 1.2 was used for this review.  TuneIn Radio is one of the premiere Radio apps available today on the Marketplace, and is completely free.

From the developer –

Local or global, never lose reception

With over 50,000 FM and AM radio stations from across the globe, TuneIn Radio makes radio local, no matter how far from home you might be.

Your favorite songs, your favorite DJs

Search for stations playing your favorite songs and start listening instantly. And with real DJs spinning the records, you’ll discover new, relevant music.

The full talk radio spectrum

Whether it’s commentary on current events or a play by play of the big game, TuneIn has the talk radio that keeps your work day compelling.

Sync presets across your devices

Quickly dial back in to all your favorite programs and stations with savable presets and they’ll instantly be synced across your TuneIn Radio devices.

Read the review after the break!

TuneIn Radio is a radio application available for Windows Phone 7, Android, iOS, Blackberry, Palm and Samsung Bada.  It is available on Google TV, Yahoo TV, Roku, and WDTV.  The best part is that you can sync your presets to every one of these devices by simply creating an account.

Interestingly, the app design seems to resemble the core design of each phone OS. For Windows Phone 7, the developers have kept it very simple, with white text on a black background.  Although it uses the Metro interface a little less than I’d like, the design is still very logical and clean.

Finding your favorite station is super easy.  You can search the station by typing in the name, genre, or location.  You can find it through the menu system by local radio, music, talk, sports, location and language.  There is even a podcast section!  I found many technology related podcasts available, and I was even able to listen to older podcasts by doing a text search of the podcast title.

While listening to a station, it will display the current song information, along with album art.

At any place within the app, you can always view the WP7 information bar.  Although your signal strength, Bluetooth, and wifi status are normally hidden, you can touch the top of your screen to view them.  The clock is always on screen, as well as the charging icon if your phone is charging.  This should really be a standard addition to all radio and reader apps.  The amount of screen space lost is minimal.

The Settings page brings some much appreciated options.  Enabling the radio playback when the screen is locked is pretty much standard on radio apps.  What isn’t standard is the option to disable the screen timeout for “Now Playing” screen.  I regularly use TuneIn on my Samsung Focus while mounted to the truck dashboard, and I love that my phone stays on for the whole trip.  The option to use the FM tuner for local stations is a creative addition, and works great.  There is an option to use GPS to detect local radio as well.

Bottom Line

Positives:

• Amazing number of local radio stations (and growing) for almost all locations worldwide
• Option to use FM signal for local stations (saving bandwidth)
• WP7 Information Bar always available – Clock and charging notification always viewable
• Syncing presets between all supported devices (which is nearly everything out there)
• Podcast streaming support
• Option to disable screen timeout – great for road trips
• No advertisements (yet), while still being free

Negatives:

• Unable to play music in background (WP7 limitation, to be fixed with Mango Update)
• “Playback Error” message pops up on stations that work – keep trying to get by it
• No radio station request option if the station isn’t available yet

 

Score: 9/10

 

Links:

TuneIn Radio (Free)