GlideTV Navigator

So it looks and feels the part, but does it work? GlideTV's main boast is that the Navigator can be used without the need to look at it and after a few days' practice we'd say its has made good on that promise.

Sensible button layout

Much of this is down to the way the 17 buttons are located in the 'dish' of the device. The most oft-used media control buttons, for volume and file selection, are built into two three-button bars above and below the touch pad - which also doubles-up as a physical button in its own right. At the North, West and East points of the unit sit the power, main menu and search/keyboard buttons. So far, so obvious.

The remaining eight buttons form a ridge that surrounds the touchpad and perform the same functions as the arrow, Escape, Enter, backspace and right-click keys of a regular keyboard and mouse.

As the days passed and familiarity grew, we increasingly managed to access the majority of the Navigator's functions with ever more first-press accuracy despite slouching in a comfy armchair with one hand dangling over the side holding the Navigator and the other holding a pint.

Crucially, if you rest the device in the palm of either hand you can easily reach any part of the control dish with your thumb.

Fits neatly into the charger

Typing one letter at a time on the full-screen virtual keyboard proved to be as quick and painless as you could realistically expect it to be, and was helped by the predictive-text suggestions. Opening the virtual keyboard was a simple matter of touching one button, but GlideTV also provides a handy Firefox add-on that automatically launches the keyboard when you click a text box.