Final thoughts
At around £60, the Gyration Media Center remote is an expensive prospect. However, if you need to control more than just Media Center from your couch, the in-air motion-sensing functionality provides one of the best alternatives to a mouse.
The remote is highly intuitive, and the type of gadget that you genuinely enjoy using. You'll even enjoy showing it off to your friends and family.
It's one of the most enjoyable Media Center remotes we've used, and its added functionality proves to be incredibly useful. Sadly, the inability to enter alphabetic characters could prove to be a deal breaker for many. We're hoping Gyration will present us with a solution, but if searching for music is a regular task, it'll become an occasionally frustrating experience.
As a result, we've given the device an Innovation award. Should Gyration find a solution to our identified problem, the Gyration Media Remote would become easily recommended.
*Update* July 31st '08
Greg Smith, vice president of marketing at Gyration, has been in touch to offer a solution to the Gyration Media Remote's one major problem; the inability to enter alphabetic characters.
He advises that although the device is recognised by the OS as a Media Centre Remote, it doesn't automatically enable triple-tap functionality. Fortunately, Gyration has identified a solution and triple-tap can be enabled via a simple registry edit. Making it that little bit easier, Gyration offers a downloadable application to make the required changes for you.
Users can visit the US Gyration website, and download either the 32-bit or 64-bit Triple-Tap application. It's a tiny download, and once installed, triple-tap functionality is restored and the remote can enter alphabetic characters. We've tried it, and it works wonders.
It's a very simple fix, and one that makes the remote a complete Media Center solution. Though we'd like to see the Triple-Tap application bundled with the device itself, we're now happy to give this innovative remote a Recommended award.
HEXUS Awards
Gyration Media Center Remote
HEXUS Where2Buy
Gyration Media Center Remote can be purchased from Scan.co.uk for £59.93 and from QuietPC.com for £69.99.HEXUS Right2Reply
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