
It would be easy to think that we get off on teasing our readers in the West by featuring Japanese products you’ll never get your hands on, but that would be a mistake – we just get a kick out of sharing the latest cutting-edge gadgetry, whatever its provenance.
The latest such object of desire is Sanyo’s newest car GPS unit, the Gorilla NV-HD880FT, which features the world’s first full-range digital terrestrial TV tuner. Like all recent sat-nav installs, the Gorilla comes with a large screen (8 inches) and the ability to play back a range of media, but the TV breakthrough is what really counts.
Drivers handing over the hefty sum of ¥225,750 ($1,900) will benefit from the world’s smallest digi TV decoder to handle both the mobile 1-seg broadcasts popular in Japan and the 12-seg broadcasts designed for domestic televisions there. The new circuit board measures just 5 x 5 cm, whereas the previous generation was a chunky 11 x 12 cm.
While 1-seg is fine, it does offer a lower resolution than the full-fat digital broadcasts, making the Gorilla’s ability to switch automatically between the different versions its strongest selling point. That aside, just remember to keep your eyes on the road.
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01:32 AM
Mark Hiratsuka •
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GPS | Transportation
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