Sanyo's Gorilla Lite PND packs 4GB in an incredibly thin frame

Sanyo, a company best known among mid-80s McKean Elementary school students for the portable cassette recorder Henry Hutchinson used to incessantly play "Mr. Telephone Man" by New Edition (true story), seems to be going from strength to strength with its Gorilla line of handheld PNDs. The NV-LB50DT Gorilla Lite packs a 5-inch touchscreen, LED backlight, and 4GB SSD in a package a mere 18.8mm thin. The device also features a 1Seg digital TV tuner, an accelerometer for switching between landscape and portrait mode, support for MP4, JPEG, MP3, and WMA playback, and Sanyo ECO mode (which tells you if your driving style is good or bad for the environment). Sure, this isn't the DVD playing, CD-ripping powerhorse that we last saw from the company, but you probably knew that as soon as you saw the word "Lite" in the name. Available soon for a price to be determined.

[Via Akihabara News]

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2009 8:36PM]

test

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2009 8:29PM]

hopefully this one wont cost $1500

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2009 8:32PM]

I have an SD card that packs 16gb into a 2mm thin frame.

[nanowoodward Posted Sep 2nd 2009 9:09PM]

And lacks a beautifully detailed map/screen - but you saw this coming. Hey I woulsve said the same thing

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2009 8:45PM]

4GB SSD

[Cheesus Crust Posted Sep 2nd 2009 10:08PM]

I have a 32GB card for my psp,
I used the 2 Micro-SD to memory stick converter, so two 16GB = 32GB Happy PSP

[Rasec Posted Sep 2nd 2009 8:37PM]

I believe it's a gyroscope and not an accelerometer what tells it the direction it's being held.

[tmarks11 Posted Sep 3rd 2009 12:06PM]

nope.

Accelerometer measure acceleration. It can tell vertical vs horizontal positioning based upon comparing measured acceleration to the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/sec^2).

A gyroscope is used in artificial horizons and gyrocompasses on airplanes. The gyroscope maintains the same orientation regardless who you change the plane.

You could use a gyroscope to tell a pda/smartphones orientation, but the power draw of keeping the gyroscpe spinning at a few thousand rpm and the physical size of the gyroscope and motors means that it wouldn't fit in a handheld device.

You can also use a gyroscope to dead reckon position by using acceleratometers mounted to the gyroscope cage, but that is a different story. Not going to fit that into a hand held device.

[milkman Posted Sep 2nd 2009 8:39PM]

How will Gorilla's hold it if its so thin? It'll break. They need one the size of a wooden chest!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2009 8:44PM]

good try.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2009 9:04PM]

thats HOUSE. powerhouse.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2009 9:16PM]

That UI looks like a bitch to use.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 3rd 2009 5:45AM]

It's actually very easy to learn and quite intuitive. Just two things:
1) The UI is intuitive when using Japanese language (which is the only language it includes).
2) The GPS data only covers Japan, so you probably wouldn't even get a chance to use it in the first place.

[htd Posted Sep 2nd 2009 9:49PM]

18.8mm is thin?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2009 10:19PM]

I was about to say the same thing, that's chunky as hell. 4GB is far too small of a capacity to parade over.

[Fanfoot Posted Sep 2nd 2009 9:58PM]

Now make a netbook with a bezel like that!