Sony expands Nav-U GPS line with four new models

Sony's Nav-U line of PNDs hasn't made big waves in the States yet, but the company's keeping at it, releasing four new touchscreen navs today. The new $400 NV-U94T (pictured) takes over from the NV-U83T at the high end, featuring a 4.8-inch touch screen in a 30 percent thinner case, gesture commands, POSITION plus accelerometer and barometer (wild)-based dead reckoning in case of signal loss, Quick Links POI icons, and an RDS-TMC traffic receiver built into the cradle, as well as basic PMP functions, Bluetooth with A2DP output and Memory Stick Duo expansion; the $300 NV-U74T is basically the same package minus the PMP features and with a 4.3-inch screen and the $350 NV-U84 keeps the 4.8-inch panel but doesn't have Bluetooth, dead reckonings, or traffic. There's also a totally new 3.5-inch unit, the $250 NV-U44, which is pretty basic but seems like a fine deal: text-to-speech nav, maps of the US and Canada, and split-screen 3D views with lane guidance. All four should be out in September.

[Via CNET]

[Toadlet @ Aug 27th 2008 1:10PM]

Note to Sony product testers/photographers: Don't document the fact that you were speeding on the freeway less than two miles from your Rancho Bernardo office while on company time.

[Tremorwolf @ Aug 27th 2008 2:53PM]

I live in Poway. .And i KNOW it was this guy that cut me off! LOL

[Iridium @ Aug 27th 2008 1:22PM]

I hope that when it says US and Canada both are actually preloaded. I bought a GPS that said maps of Canada and US on the outside of the box, went to Canada and well it didn't work anymore. When I got home I looked at the fine print in the manual and it said map of canada available as a free download, doh.

Good thing that the GPS in my head works pretty good.

[aznatama @ Aug 27th 2008 1:31PM]

Toadlet:

flow of traffic in that area is about that speed.

I wonder if there's an accelerometer display or if that sensor's only used to keep track of location in case of signal loss...

[wxrman @ Aug 27th 2008 1:41PM]

I love my 83... just wish it had a few more upcoming street names on it... looks like a pile of dead stick figures.

[David @ Aug 27th 2008 1:38PM]

Accelerometers are pretty crappy for tracking location long-term, so most likely it's only used in the case of temporary signal loss.

The problem comes from the fact that they only give you acceleration, not absolute velocity or position. Thus small errors over a period of time add up, until your data is essentially worthless.

[DBinSD @ Aug 28th 2008 12:20AM]

Why the Memory Stick? Why not, say, Beta tapes, or DAT? One of these days Sony is going to figure out that their "ingenious" proprietary media plays - devices designed to force you into buying their media - actually turn consumers off to their devices entirely.