The Miniboom combines an iPod dock with an FM radio, along with a few neat touch-sensitive controls along the front panel.

If there's no iPod in the connector atop the device, the FM radio starts when the unit is switched on. Reception and sound quality were both good, and the player is capable of fairly high volumes.

Obviously quality will depend on your local stations, but generally we were impressed. Likewise with the iPod element – as soon as a player is plugged in, the Miniboom switches to being a speaker for it, and the player can be controlled using the buttons on the front or the supplied small remote control (which is also used to tune the radio).

There's also a line in socket, and a cable is included, to connect any player that isn't an iPod. The calendar shows dates far into the future and can be used to set the alarm, which can wake you with the radio or the iPod.

Design-wise, the white plastic design looks a little old fashioned, but our only real problem is the price: for £80 we'd have like to have seen a digital (DAB) radio instead of an FM one.