Venturi Mini in-car FM music streamer

Review This is one of those gadgets that doesn't really fit into any pre-existing category largely due to it actually being three things in one: a standalone hands-free phone device, an RDS FM music streamer and, by way of its USB port, a charger.

Out of the box, the Venturi is about the size of an average candybar mobile phone, albeit one with a 30° kink in the middle and a 12V in-car power take-off stuck up its bottom.

Venturi Mini: comes with bright and clear OLED screen

The review unit we received was all black and while it's handsome enough, we do prefer the look of the brushed metal version shown plugged into the dash of a Porsche Boxster on the Venturi Mini website.

Arrayed across the front panel of the Venturi is a small but commendably bright and clear OLED screen, a microphone, the main scroll wheel control, and four backlit touch buttons that manage incoming calls and music playback. All four require only the gentlest of pushes to activate, though the scroll wheel was a little on the stiff side.

On the right-hand side of the unit is an on/off switch and a full-size USB port, while on the left there are 3.5mm audio in and out sockets, the latter allowing for a hard connection to any car stereo with a suitable input port. There's also a button to select FM frequency. All in all, this little device fits a lot of controls and sockets into a remarkably small space and they all work reasonably well.