ViewQuest Pocket Wi-Fi radio

Now, how often do you see an old-fashioned trannie around and about these days?…

Now, how often do you see an old-fashioned trannie around and about these days? Well, yes, I know, all the time, in some bars, but I’m talking (as if you didn’t know) about a proper transistor radio – pocket-sized, scratchy-music-blaring, 1964-style.

The purpose of a trannie was, of course, to enable you to listen to music (generally Brian and The Tremeloes) while on the street, ideally annoying the middle-aged and elderly as you did so. Portability was the trannie’s USP. Wouldn’t it be neat, then (in an ironic way, like a horse-drawn Ferrari) to invent a trannie-sized radio that wasn’t portable on account of it being an internet radio that needs to be in range of Wi-Fi?

The ViewQuest Pocket Wi-Fi radio is the world’s smallest internet radio at a minuscule 73mm x 125mm x 23mm. Yet, pointless as it sounds, the idea is more rocking than on the rocks – the reason being, its rechargeable battery life supplies squeaky trannie-ness for a whopping 15 hours at a time, making the ViewQuest a fine bathroom/patio companion. Bet you end up only listening to Radio 5, though.

Fact Box:

£90, from www.firebox.com; 0844-922 1010. See www.viewquest.co.uk.