The Ninety7 Jot doesn't do anything spectacular, but it doesn't claim to. It's a battery powered base for the Google Home Mini ($49 at Google Store) smart speaker. If you already have a Google Home Mini, you can spend an extra $35 on the Jot to rid your Mini of its tether. Keep in mind, if you actually want to take your smart speaker to the park, the Jot doesn't provide any kind of mobile signal -- just battery life.

That said, the Jot is a reasonably priced accessory that does its one task well. It claims to provide 8 hours of battery life, but it lasted a full 12 hours in our tests while playing music. If you already own a Google Home Mini and want to take it with you from room to room, the Jot's worth $35 and it's easy to attach to your Mini.

Price and availability

You can buy the Ninety7 Jot now on the company's site and on Amazon. Right now, the company's site has it on sale for $30, $5 off the normal $35 price. You can find the Jot on sale overseas as well. It's £30 and AU$60 on the UK and Australian versions of Amazon, respectively.

You'll need a $50 Google Home Mini as well, which is sold separately. Ninety7, the company behind Jot, makes similar products for a variety of smart speakers such as the original Google Home ($89 at Walmart) and the Amazon Echo ($75 at Amazon), so if you want to make a different smart speaker portable, chances are Ninety7 has an accessory for you.

Staying out of the way

Assuming you have your Google Home Mini on hand, installing the Jot takes less than a minute. It looks like a bowl for your Mini. Press the tabs on the side to pull off the front lip. Slide the Mini into place. The back of the Jot has a Micro-USB connector that connects to the port that the Mini normally uses for power. Reattach the front, then use the Mini's power cord on the Jot's own Micro-USB port and you're done.