After a relatively quiet period on the media player front, iRiver promised some exciting new products at 2007's CES show, one of which is the innovatively designed Clix 2. The successor to the Clix is smaller and sleeker: thanks to the player's intriguing approach to navigation, the majority of the device is taken up by a superb 2.2-inch AMOLED display.

Although there's a number of control buttons subtlety placed around the edges of the player, the majority of the time you'll be navigating by depressing the sides of the screen in one of four directions. Although we were a little sceptical at first, this is actually an extremely effective way of moving around. Apple Mac users might relate the operation to the equally innovative mouse design of the G4 series and later.

When you combine this impressive design with the excellent display - one of the brightest, sharpest and most vibrant we've seen on a portable player - you realise that you've got something pretty special on your hands.

Calling the Clix 2 an MP3 player or even a multimedia player would be doing it a disservice, such is the wealth of features you'll find built in. In addition to the now pretty standard support for video, photos and music, there's also an FM radio, alarm clock, text viewer, voice recorder and a range of flash games that make good use of the unique controls. In addition you'll find a wide range of stylish themes and fonts that allow you to personalise the menu structure and display.

To get content onto the Clix 2 you can either drag and drop audio or photos or use the iRiver Plus 3 software supplied. We'd recommend the latter in this case, particularly for video, to make sure content is properly formatted and to get the best from your media.

In addition to the excellent video playback, audio is some of the best we've heard, on par with the high standards set by Sony in this field. You're given an impressive degree of control with a wide range of audio effects and environments that can be adjusted and fine-tuned to achieve some fantastic results. We'd highly recommend picking up a decent pair of in-ear bud 'phones, though, to replace those supplied, to get the most from the Clix 2.

In terms of general music management you don't get quite the range of options you might expect. Instead of the more traditional Artist/Album/Genre music search, your audio is simply ordered by artist. Although for most people we wouldn't consider this a big problem, it would have been nice to see a greater degree of playlist control.

This minor foible aside, when you set the range of features and superb audio and video performance alongside a 24 hour battery life and the lightweight and stylish design, you start to wonder if there's anything else you could possibly want from a player.

You can pick up the 4GB version for just £139, around the same price as the equivalent iPod Nano. We challenge even the most dedicated Apple addict to use a Clix 2 for 10 minutes and not agree that it's a far better all-round player, and there aren't many out there that can make such a claim.

The iRiver Clix 2 is possibly the best all-round multimedia player we've used. It ticks just about every conceivable box and if you're in the market for something that offers excellent all-round media support and performance, you simply cannot go wrong with it.