INTRODUCTION

    As of January 9, 2006
Howard Stern fans will have to subscribe to Sirius
Radio to listen to his antics. The loss of Howard’s
program on CBS Radio (formerly Infinity
Broadcasting) has spawned a new marketing campaign
with "Free FM" as its slogan. Since there are
currently no Pocket PC or Palm devices that receive
satellite radio, would it not be great to at least
be able to listen to "Free FM." C-guys, Inc., a company specializing in Secure
Digital technology has developed the SD-Radio2, an FM
receiver paired to an SDIO card. SD-Radio2 is
designed to run on an SDIO capable PocketPC or Palm
device, let’s see how it works on an Axim X51v.

WHAT’S HOT

    The SD-Radio2 has the following features:

• Compliant with
  the SDIO version 1.0 standard.
• Capable of
  receiving FM broadcasts in the US, European and
  Japanese frequency ranges.
• Support for
  manual and automatic station tuning.
• Provides 18
  station preset memory locations

The package
includes the SDIO FM receiver, a cheap pair of ear
buds, and a software CD.

SETUP

The SD-Radio 2 receiver
application is installed on the PC using the standard
install procedure. There are no custom options to
choose from.

The software is
certified to run under PocketPC 2003, but it
successfully installed and functioned on a Dell Axim X51v running
WM5.   

PRODUCT FEATURES

    The SD-Radio2 card and application
are very intuitive to use.

The headphones
must be plugged into the SDIO card, it is not
possible to use the Pocket PC’s headphone jack.

The
only setting required is selecting the frequency
range.

    The main user interface contains
two major components, the station display at the top
and the radio control buttons at the bottom. 
The station display has A, B, and C memory group
buttons with 6 associated presets on the sides for a
total of 18 memory locations. 
A tuning sliders at bottom of the station display
allows for direct tuning using a stylus. The radio
controls at the bottom form an oval. At the top
center a twin triangle button toggles between manual
and automatic tuning modes. The left and right VCR
buttons control up/down tuning.  The bottom of
the oval contains buttons that provide (from left to
right) power/exit, mute, and screen off functions.
The center of the oval acts as a volume slider.  The
D-Pad allows one handed operation for tuning and
adjusting volume.

HELP SUPPORT

    The SD-Radio2 quick start
guide is provided as a .PDF file on the software CD
is basic, reflecting the lack of any
advanced functionality. The C-guys support site includes downloads, FAQs, and a
support request form.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    The
SD-Radio2 is advertised to run on SDIO version 1.0 capable PocketPCs
with PocketPC 2003 and Palm devices such as the Treo. I had no problems
running the SD-Radio2 on a Dell Axim X51v with WM 5.0.

BUGS AND WISHES

   
There were no problems installing or running the
SD-Radio2 application.  However in today’s
mobile world it is missing some major features. 
Here is a list of items which would make the
SD-Radio2 more desirable.

• The ability to record broadcast (an audio Tivo)
• The ability to display Radio Data System (RDS)
  information such station call letters and song
  titles
• The use of the Pocket PC’s audio subsystem
  speaker or headphone jack

PURCHASING

   
The retail price of the SD-Radio2 is $45 and can be
purchased from C-guys here.

PROS

• International settings
• Works with
  WM 5.0

CONS

• No
  recording capability
• No RDS information display
• Does not use Pocket PC audio
  subsystem
• Low volume

Value
Ease of Use
Features
Overall

What
do these ratings mean?

OVERALL IMPRESSION

    Without the ability to record radio
programs, the SD-Radio2 is just a
simple FM radio with low volume output.  Handy, but not
really useful.