Beoplay P2: B&O's portable pebble speaker

There's an abundance of music players to choose from in the portable speaker market. Many of these offer Bluetooth connectivity to stream music and USB ports to charge your phone.

When you need music on the go, or with friends, portable speakers are a great alternative to the somewhat isolated and cumbersome experience of headphones.

There are, however, few speakers on the market that are both compact and deliver a high quality of sound, as shrinking a speaker's footprint often reduces its quality.

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That's where Bang & Olufsen comes in with its latest offering – the compact Beoplay BP2 wireless speaker.

It's the company's smallest speaker to date and is controlled by a combination of hand gestures and a smartphone companion app, meaning there's no need for physical buttons around the exterior.

Users connect their smartphone to the speaker using Bluetooth, with the only physical port on the P2 being a small charging port for its internal battery.

"A simple double tap anywhere on the front grille of the compact speaker will play or pause whatever song is playing", says Pocket-Lint. You can also skip through tracks by shaking the device.

The Beoplay app lets you "access personal assistants such as Siri and Google Assistant to play music", the site adds, as well as "change the sound profile of the speaker using the ToneTouch feature".

Bang & Olufsen has also designed the P2 to comfortably fit into the user's hand. Digital Trends says its minimalist styling makes it "incredibly light" and "easy to slip into your bag, or even into the pocket of your jacket".

Under its aluminium enclosure, the site says the speaker houses a pair of "15-watt Class D amps driving a newly designed mid-woofer" derived from the company's A1 portable unit.

With orders open now and prices starting at £149, T3 says the P2 is "the most affordable Bang & Olufsen product ever".