With our newly sedentary lifestyles in the 21 st century, we like things to be easy, preferably so we don’t have to leave our chairs let alone our houses. The introduction of the Navipod from Ten Technology is another step in the direction of inertia, bringing the ability to control your iPod from the other side of the room.

The appliance consists of an infra-red sensor on a receiver unit, and a mini remote control with the functions to play/pause, skip and adjust the volume. For when the iPod is not docked, a chrome stand is provided to support it and keep it upright. Clearly this device is useless unless it is connected to a speaker system, and thanks to the helpful provision of a pass-through headphone port, the speakers can be connected either through the dock or through the earphone line-out (located on the back of the receiver unit).

The Navipod performed just as it specified it should, from a range of up to 15 feet. The receiver unit requires no extra batteries as it runs directly off the iPod’spower supply. The remote is good for one-handed operation and small enough to carry around in a pocket for easy location. Its disc-shaped design and smooth rubbery buttons were pleasant to use and looked simple and modern, if not exactly in keeping with iPod’s style. The battery it required is easily replaced, but with the minimal amount of power it needs it wouldn’t need replacing often.

However, there are a couple of downsides to its use. Unless you know exactly what order and in what playlist your songs are in, you are going to have to keep getting up to look at the iPod’s screen to know what is playing. If you just want to randomly scan through your tunes, the Navipod is ideal, otherwise this drawback kind of renders the Navipod pointless. There is also no click wheel to skim through the songs; instead the ‘back’ and ‘forward’ buttons have to be used. Also, the remote is tiny, only 2.5 inches in diameter, and so has great potential to be engulfed by the ever-pilfering sofa cushions.

For use in the car (more practically for use only in conjunction with a dock-connecting FM transmitter) it is handy for those in the back seat for controlling the tunes in the front. Although, this could lead to couch-commando style remote squabbles, and is perhaps better kept to less distracting situations.

For its designed function the Ten Navipod is perfect, it serves as a remote control as good as anyone could wish. But its application is not necessarily that well thought out: the inclusion of a menu screen to search for the song you want would make this product a great deal better.