IFA 06 Sony will update its Nav-U GPS-based route-planning product in November, the consumer electronics giant said today. It promised the upcoming widescreen NV-U80 and NV-U81T gadgets will deliver better-than-the-rest accuracy for speed and location.

Sony called its system Position Plus. Essentially, it's a series of back-up sensor that provide the Nav-U's on-board computer with additional positioning data when the GPS signals aren't up to scratch - when your driving under a bridge, in a tunnel or between tall buildings, for instance. Sensors include integrated acceleration and pressure monitors to measure speed and altitude.

Map and route information are displayed on the NV-U80 and NV-U81T's 4.3in touch-sensitive widescreen display. Sony said it has added gesture control to the gadgets: swipe your finger over the screen in a certain way and you'll trigger commands like 'finder the nearest petrol station', for example.

Sony said the new Nav-Us also support Bluetooth for hands-free calling. The NV-U80 contains 512MB of Flash storage and will ship with one of a range of single-territory maps. The NV-U81T has a 4GB hard drive on which Europe-wide maps are pre-installed. It also bundles a Traffic Message Channel subscription, something that's an optional extra with the NV-U80.

Both machines will ship in November. Sony did not disclose pricing. ®

Related reviews

Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox N100 handheld GPS [1]
CoPilot Live 6 for Symbian [2]
Mio A701 GPS smart phone [3]
Navicore Personal 2006/1 smart phone GPS [4]

IFA 2006: complete coverage

Hitachi spins up DVR-friendly perpendicular HDD [5]
Linksys ships Wi-Fi VoIP phone in Europe [6]
Philips calls up PC-free Skype phone [7]
Samsung readies rival digital music service to iTunes [8]
LG shows off skinny HSDPA clamshell [9]
Pretec unwraps 8GB SD card [10]
Blu-ray Disc launch line-up revealed to Europeans [11]

Links

1. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/15/review_fujitsu_siemens_pocket_loox_n100/
2. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/19/review_copilot_6_symbian/
3. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/04/28/review_mio_a701/
4. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/30/review_navicore_personal/
5. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/hgst_preps_perp_dvr_hdd/
6. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/linksys_ships_wip330_europe/
7. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/philips_dect_skype/
8. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/samsung_unveils_digital_download_plan/
9. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/lg_shows_off_thin_hsdpa_clamshell/
10. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/pretec_8gb_sdhc/
11. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/euro_blu-ray_content_announced/

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