Altec Lansing inMotion

Transform your iPod into a beatbox

Accessories don't usually have the T3 team hooting with joy and crowding around a desk to get a look. This battery- and mains- powered speaker box from Altec Lansing, however, caused spontaneous cooing, fondling and a short-lived party in the street - and that was before we'd even turned it on.

Much of our praise goes to the inMotion's designers. As well as looking sublime, this is also an extremely functional device - when not in use, the stand folds away into the base, making the whole package about the same size and weight as a big hardback novel.

It's flexible and easy to use too. If you've got a new iPod (the ones with the four play buttons under the screen), you can simply plug straight in via the dock connector and switch the power on to start playing Beyonce on the beach. It also functions as a dock, recharging your iPod by its four AA batteries (not supplied, sadly) or mains, and you can connect to a PC or Mac via a FireWire/USB socket on the back. Anyone with older iPods or other MP3 players can simply hook up with a provided cable via the player's headphones output.

We thought the audio quality would be as laughable as Madonna attempting to rap, but the results were surprising. Bass is non-existent - despite Altec Lansing's claims - but otherwise the audio quality is on par with a cheap micro hi-fi : tinny but fine, and fairly loud for its low power output. It's pricey, but this is still a brilliant travel gadget and the best iPod accessory we've seen so far.