These take on the same functions as a 3-button hands-free remote, letting you switch tracks with multiple presses on the play/pause button. The main ones sit on the top – a play/pause button and volume controls. There are a few buttons on the Mini Jambox, but none stand out too much as they’re all neatly colour-matched to the finish of the box. It’s about 40 per cent thinner than the original Jambox, but can you really imagine keeping an inch-thick phone in your pocket? A jacket pocket or bag if much more likely to make a good home for the Mini Jambox. However, we don’t think you’d want to keep it in your pocket on a regular basis. It’s pretty convenient, but is it small enough to be truly portable? Jawbone is keen to reiterate that this speaker is much more portable than average – it fits in a pocket. You charge the battery using a standard microUSB port on the side. It lasts for up to 10 hours – less at maximum volume. Whether or not this has any huge impact on battery life (given that even with Bluetooth 4.0, transferring music is going to use a bit of power), stamina is decent. The Jawbone Mini Jambox is a Bluetooth wireless speaker, and it uses Bluetooth 4.0 – which uses barely any power when not transferring much data. Not only does this look and feel great, it should also help to avoid any rattling joins when the volume is maxed-out (although any of that sort of thing would raise serious construction-related eyebrows). It’s a single piece of aluminium, aside from the soft-touch panels on each edge. What’s trickier to relay in pictures is the excellent build quality of the Mini Jambox. Each has a slightly different pattern, and the mix of colours and styles is intended to give a degree of personalisation missing from the rather uniform original Jambox.

It comes in a host of different colours, and with a variety of different speaker grilles. It purports to be all about fitting good sound into a small box, but the Jawbone Mini Jambox also cares a good deal about style. It’s a little pocket marvel in some respects, but unless you must have a speaker this size you can get better sound for less money. But this is a speaker you can fit in the pocket of your jeans – or at least that’s what Jawbone says. It’s a bit smaller, and a bit more expensive than the Jambox at £149.99. The Mini Jambox is the new baby brother of the original Jambox and Jambox Big.

Best mini bluetooth speakers 2013