CHOYONGLC90 Multi-Band Smart Internet Radio Portable AM/FM, Longwave and Shortwave Radio with WiFi/4G, Bluetooth, TF Card，Portable Shortwave Receiver with SSB,choyoung Radio

I’ve been looking for a travel radio for a long time and this is it.I travel domestically and internationally for both work and pleasure, used to take a Wi-Fi radio and a separate shortwave radio with me. But that wasn’t ideal in that it took up more room in my luggage, and bringing two radios meant having to juggle another thing on my travels, and it just felt weird. When I found out that there’s a radio that had both Wifi and shortwave capability, I jumped at it.The first thing to remember is that this is a consumer-grade radio. It’s like a good point-and-shoot camera rather than an advanced DSLR. So if you’re looking for a powerhouse shortwave or AM DXing machine, this isn’t it.What this radio gives you is access to thousands of internet radio stations. If you don’t find your station in their list, you can also add you own station’s URL via the Choyong website. The standout feature of its internet radio function is that it has 4G capability, so if you’re at a hotel that requires you to sign into their website to access their Wi-Fi or in a place with no Wi-Fi at all, no problem. Pop a SIM card into the radio, or sign up for Choyong’s eSIM and you can stream away. You don’t need to worry about Wi-Fi networks or passwords anymore. That’s a huge win for me at least, because I don’t have to tie up my phone to catch up on the BBC World Service or WNYC while I’m on the road.In parts of the world where powerful shortwave stations are still active, you have access to that as well. A few month ago, on a trip to West Africa where hotel Wi-Fi and cell coverage is generally weak, this radio kept me company in the evenings by tuning into the BBC or (before it closed) the VOA on shortwave. At home here in NYC, I’ve benchmarked its shortwave sensitivity against my TecSun PL-330 and they are about equal. The PL-330 has a few extra bells and whistles, but the Choyong is more than capable of being up to the task. You can improve its reception with an external antenna. The antenna jack is weirdly placed on the radio, but with the right connector, you can run a length of wire and improve your listening experience.If listening to AM (aka Mediumwave) is your focus, skip this radio altogether. The radio display and the 4G xmtr create interference in the AM band. The manufacturer built in shielding which reduces that interference but also reduces its AM sensitivity, so AM reception isn’t going to be satisfying. More casual users like me generally access those AM stations via their internet stream, and many AM stations are migrating to or simulcasting on FM these days anyway.FM reception is fine. In North America, you’ll get RDS information on the display as you listen to the station, which is helpful.Another stand-out feature is the radio’s sound quality. Unlike my PL-330, the Choyong is really pleasant to listen to. It doesn’t tire you out over long periods of time. You can use the radio as a Bluetooth speaker for your phone and listening to your music is really nice. (Note that you can’t pair Bluetooth headphones TO the radio. You’ll have to buy a dongle for that.) The battery life is also good. I generally get three or four long evenings of listening before having to recharge. You can extend the battery life by setting the display so that it turns off after a period of time.The radio has a bit of a learning curve at first and the instructions aren’t very good at showing you how to navigate the radio and access its features, but once you figure it out, it’s actually pretty intuitive. I particularly like that I can go to a new location, turn the radio onto shortwave and scan the bands by simply holding down the SW button and off it goes. While I like my TecSun radio, basic features like this aren’t very intuitive so I carried the instructions with me to help remember how to do them.This radio isn’t for everyone. If you want a powerful shortwave DXing machine, if AM broadcast is your focus, or you’re just listening to internet radio at home on your own Wi-Fi, then there may be better and cheaper alternatives. But if you’re a traveler like me, there is probably nothing better on the market. The 4G capability alone makes it worth the money. Just note that if you’re an international traveler, get the LC90G model, which accesses mobile phone frequencies outside of North America as well.Also the minute you get this radio follow the instructions to upgrade the firmware to v 4.8 which fixes some bugs and gives you access to new features. It will save you frustration.

First of all, read the short manual to explore more of what is hidden beyond the screen. So charge the battery fully, insert a 32GB TF (not more than 32) into the proper port and update the firmware. I myself didn’t listen to any station until it was updated.Indeed, this receiver is rather a web dedicated portable device most of the time according to your wish that could let your mobile phone or other devices previously connected to radio stations via the web to do much more than just tuning in favorite radios.There are some features like Tag, Lang, News, Podcast, BT, TF and Music dedicated buttons on the Choyong LC90 that work well in order to let you do more than in a simple digital radio app while you explore other horizons on the web. The Favorite button is a kind of easy shortcut to your favorite ones on all frequency bands or via the web. On BT you can also listen to the same favorite songs usually listened to in your cars, for instance. I’ve already listened to amazing national (Brazilian) and international auditions on this smart receiver.Nowadays I can listen to my favorite stations around the world with a good smart radio receiver and free my mobile phone to do other important things. There are stations that I like from Germany, England, France, Spain, United States, Latin America Countries and others that I couldn’t imagine that existed, all in good quality sound like listening to local FM stations. Really, it's been an amazing experience.Good reception has this receiver. I’ve already listened to a famous SW Amazon station called "Rádio Nacional da Amazônia" (11780 kHz), that is some 10800 km away from where I live in Brazil as well as to other so far unknown stations too. This first DX tune was possible with a simple external Tecsun wire antenna. Imagine with a powerful one. Ah, I could also listen to the Amazon station with the simple telescopic antenna, then of course, this time the sound was weaker than with the external antenna, naturally.Now, as a critical review, it’s a pit that it doesn’t show RDS on FM, MW and SW bands as you listen to them by frequency, not via the web. Otherwise, on these bands the screen doesn’t show either the battery level indicator.On the other hand, on Internet there is Information about the stations, but I miss information about the programs. One thing that teases me is that the sound of a previous station goes off as you search for another one, so your radio seems to be off during any search. The previous station should stay tuned until the next one is in. This happens whenever exploring Search field.I hope that these and other missing features could come up in the next updates. Exactly, update is a good feature of this smart radio, more than a simple receiver.Otherwise, you can expect more from this radio as the time goes by since Choyong is doing its best to get there. They have already shown good signs on this regard.Please read the simple manual before turning it on and be happy.

4+, almost all in one, a good gadget, many internet channels and podcasts, a beautiful sound, lw/mw very poor reception but probably you cannot have it when you have a 2,5-inch screen, tf card only up to 32 GB, FM too quiet (hope it'll be upgaded) and sensitivity could be a bit better, if you are particularly interested in good sensitivity FM/MW/LW/SW, buy some more expensive Sangean, TECSUN or XHDATA D-808 at least, if you want an all-in-one product and internet radio, definitely buy choyong LC90 (or its mini counterpart), caution: using wifi will be much better than a SIM card (via wifi it works faster, in-built internet via a SIM card has poor recepption and you need to be close to a BTS to use it that way / the mini version of LC90 doesn't differ much from it, only one speaker but the sound is okay. If you have spine problems, choose the mini version. It is worth buing (both, the larger, heavier and mini version) but I hope Choyong will produce better models (also both, larger and a mini version and also without Chinese inscriptions), considering that some improvements mentioned by me are necessary, I expect for example: better sensitivity, better internet via a SIM card, copmatible with a tf card up to 512 GB or at least up to 64 GB. Greetings