Bose kindly sent us its latest toy — a portable version of the company's generously promoted SoundDock iPod speaker. The SoundDock has generally garnered good reviews, and Bose says it set out to keep the sound quality about the same while making the dock battery powered. A video in the press kit convincingly explains why it's a challenge to design good-sounding audio gear without sacrificing battery life (among the claims: by just turning the volume up by a paltry 3 dB, battery life of most gadgets is cut in half), but Bose thinks it's done so using its trusty "waveguide technology." Seems to fix everything, doesn't it, Dr. Bose?

Well, it doesn't fix overhead costs, apparently, since the new portable SoundDock costs $400, which is $100 more than the original. We'll take the weekend to play with the new kid and let you know if we think it's worth it. In the meantime, see a pic of the SoundDock portable in its dress whites after the jump. — Peter Pachal