Sony NVU83T Video

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Created: 01/06/2008

Video description: At CES 2008 Brian Tong takes a look at a Sony GPS device that features their Position Plus technology and a dual view mode.

Sony NVU83T Video Transcript

[ music ] ^M00:00:03 [ background music ]

>> Hey guys, I'm Brian Tong from CNET TV, and we're here at the Sony booth in front of their Nav View personal navigation device, which is GPS. And I'm standing here in front of the NVU83T model. Now what you see first of all is its huge, beautiful four point eight inch wide screen, it's one of the largest that we've seen, so I gotta love that. And it also has Bluetooth hands free built in that. Now that's a feature that's in a lot of GPS units, but it's got that as well. All right, one of the cool new features is Position Plus technology. Now what that allows you to do, let's say you're driving and you go through a tunnel. Normally you lose your GPS signal, and you don't know what to do when you're out of that tunnel. Well Position Plus, the sensors in it tells you what turn to take right after that so your experience is seamless, you still have all that information. Now another feature it has is the dual view mode. Now what this allows you to do is let's say you're driving on the freeway and you need to take an off ramp, but there's a lot of them there. The screen splits into two, one side shows you the actual lane to take, while the other side maintains the entire map. So that is super hot as well. A third feature it has is called gesture commands. And what it allows me to do is take my finger, and I can do things like make a quick little circle, and it'll zoom into the map, a counterclockwise circle to zoom out, or even kind of draw the roof or the peak of a mountain, and it'll take you home, show you the directions to get you back home. So that's another neat thing. Now one of the last super cool features this guy has is a super suction cup mount. And what that allows you to do is pop this guy onto your dash. Normally you know, our dashes are bumpy, they're sometimes not sticky and you can't put things on it. Well the mount on the back of the GPS unit allows it to stay there so you've got it stuck on your dash. [ background music ] No need to stick it on your windshield and get in the way when you drive. So there you go. I'm Brian Tong with CNET TV. We've got it, the NVU83T from Sony. Killer navigation device. ^M00:01:46 [ music ]

Sony NV-U83T Review

Editors' rating

6.3

out of 10

Price range

$195.00-$449.95

See all 2 stores

The good: The Sony NV-U83T boasts a spacious 4.8-inch touch screen, and you can perform certain operations with the swipe of your finger. The in-car GPS also has text-to-speech functionality, integrated Bluetooth, and 3D views for complicated intersections.

The bad: Satellite acquisition time is erratic and route calculations weren't the most efficient. Planning a trip on the NV-U83T isn't as streamlined as other GPS devices we've tested.

The bottom line: The Sony NV-U83T is a seemingly attractive in-car GPS with a large display and useful navigation features, but it shows its ugly side with poor directions and subpar performance.

Read full review