Portable speakers are great, and they make listening to music with friends a treat, but you could argue there's still a bit of a faff about getting your tunes out loud. We have certainly been forced to mess about for some time getting Bluetooth devices paired and working, and that's the last thing you want when you're trying to enjoy some tuneage.

But the iForgz Boost Plus offers a unique solution to that problem. It's a portable, amplified speaker that's powered by batteries, but instead of pairing your phone, you simply play music through it's own internal speaker. You then put the phone in contact with the Boost Plus, and Bob's your mother's brother, you're listening to your music through the device's speaker.

It's incredibly clever, and works by detecting the vibrations that reach its surface from your phone's speaker, and amplifies them in the way any portable speaker would. The quality is passable, but far from brilliant we'd say, it's a slightly dirty system, but it's clever and for the simplicity it gets good marks.

ifrogz boost plus and animatone snug pictures and hands on image 12

Should you want slightly better quality, there's a line-input too, which sits alongside a USB-based power input, and the device's on/off switch.

Using the same system, iFrogz also does an Animatone Snug, which is an adorable stuffed animal with a plastic phone holder pouch on the front. You pop your phone in here, and the same technology amplifies the sound. This is clearly aimed at kids, and it's quite a good idea because it lacks the complexity of a full-blown wireless speaker system - ideal for the little people.