dottocomu

Sony's car navigator/multimedia player with PC dock

We don't usually pay much attention to car navigation systems, but Sony's latest is something of a tour de force. Key feature is that the main unit is detachable and comes with two cradles, one for in-car use and one to hook up to a home PC via a USB2.0 connection. It's possible to transfer a range of video, audio and graphics files (most varieties of MPEG, including mp3s, plus JPEG/TIFF/BMP images) onto the main unit's 30GB hard disk for in-car enjoyment, along with new map data that will be available from July via a web-based update service.

Deserving of mention on the navigation front is the "motion street guide" (see pic bottom right), a 3D graphical representation of the road ahead with a golden line showing your course that looks highly detailed and probably nigh-on indispensable if you get lost as easily as we do.

The wallet damage from the top-line model is fairly severe, at an estimated Y210,000, but it does mean you get the full feature set, including e-mail, web browsing, the ability to hook up a rearview camera or a DVD player, receive TV broadcasts, and do all sorts of other things best avoided unless you're in a monumental traffic jam. (Japanese motorway traffic jams are, by the way, frequently monumental.) You can also buy an optional "rear station" to dock the main unit in the back of the car, which sounds perfect for entertaining fractious children on long drives, assuming you already know where you're going.

[Via PC Watch (Japanese; includes screenshots); Sony press release (Japanese)]