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Radio ga ga

And now FM radio on your handset

TUNE IN Lend an ear to the FM radio on your mobile phone

The chirpy voice of the radio jockey crackles, belting out chart busters. But this time on the handsets. Exit the good old transistor radio that one found on the kitchen mantle or at the paan walah's shop round the corner. For the FM radio addicted mobile Generationext who prefer to travel light and their gadget compact, the plethora of handsets equipped with a radio to tune it to, is sure manna.

Today, when convergence is the buzzword, communication tools are doubling as entertainment provider as well. So, joining the other features of PDA, voice recording, MP3 and camera, is the radio.

"Mobile phones with built in radios are picking up in Hyderabad, with all the hype around FM stations coming here.

This is similar to the trend that one saw in Bangalore and Mumbai when the FM boom happened there a few years ago ," says Nikhil, an entrepreneur who is planning to upgrade to an FM radio equipped handset. Agrees Rajesh, a businessman, "the reception is amazing.

And if you are getting a built-in radio without sacrificing the looks and retaining the functionality of the hand set at the same time -- of messaging and communication, it is a steal."

"This is an age of convergence and this is a step in that direction," says Sanjeev Malhotra, head marketing south, Tata Teleservices says, introducing Walky with FM. The Axesstel P830 instrument features ten channels to support the AIR and private FM stations.

While the coming days might see a synergy between the media, with radio stations looking at riding the GSM and CDMA waves, the players such as AdLabs are already there with a fleet of Reliance Mobile handsets such as Nokia 6255 with an Integrated FM Radio, MP3 and AAC music player, Nokia 3155 and more.

So, while the sale of stereo and transistor boom might just be on the cards, more of the FM radio equipped handsets and landlines are ones to flood the market in coming days. And listeners can look forward to hearing filmy tunes live instead of mere ring tones.

SYEDA FARIDA

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