Sony NV-U44 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Review

Sony’s NV-U44 portable GPS also comes in red (NV-U44/R) and silver (NV-U44/S). The 3.5 inch, standard aspect ratio (320 x 240 Pixels – not widescreen) display is an anti-glare, Si-TFT Touch Screen. While it has one of the most sensitive GPS receivers (SiRF Star III), the NV-U44 also has Sony’s Position Plus which maintains a position fix without a GPS satellite lock. Another highlight is Sony’s Gesture Command which provides quick access to some navigation functions using the touch screen. Sony’s Dual View is notable for providing more information about what’s ahead.

Sony NV-U44 Portable GPS Navigator

Gesture Command

It’s not uncommon for GPS navigators to have some facility to interpret finger gestures on the screen. Commonly, dragging a finger across the touch screen will move a map in that direction. Sony have taken it further with Gesture Command making quite a few functionalities for navigation and photo viewing available through a variety of simple finger movements. You can command the unit to take you home by tracing an inverted “V” on the screen or change the map scale with a clockwise or anti-clockwise finger motion.

Sony’s Position Plus

As mentioned, the SiRF Star III has an excellent reputation for gaining a GPS satellite lock even in weak reception areas such as under heavy foliage or between tall buildings. For such situations Sony’s Position Plus technology can maintain an estimate of your current position using the combination of an acceleration sensor, a pressure sensor and a gyro sensor. It can provide uninterrupted guidance when devices not so equipped might drop in and out with the satellite acquisition time delaying the restart of navigation directions.

Dual View – 3D Junction Guide

Sony’s NV-U44 has what Sony term a Dual View mode which is a vertically split display with a 3-D map view on one side and either dynamic route information (distance to next destination, distance to final destination, next turn instruction etc.) or a 2-D magnification of an upcoming intersection or junction. The 2-D intersection magnification has a simple bar next to it indicating the distance to the next turn.

Text-to-Speech

Having Text-to-speech provides extra safety by allowing the driver to confirm they are on track by checking that the street names announced as part of the navigation instructions match the ones they are seeing as they drive.

Photo Viewer

There is a USB port on the left side of the Sony NV-U44 for a USB drive to be inserted and JPEG photo files (up to 12 megapixels) uploaded. Slideshow intervals can be adjusted and finger gestures used for control as well.

Navigating with the Sony NV-U44

Through using route profile settings it is possible to set the Sony NV-U44 to avoid the use of ferries, toll roads, and other such conveyances when calculating your route.

Up to ten waypoints (or interim destinations) can be set with the best route being calculated which is ideal for a task such as a delivery run or touring a number of tourist sites.

So that you can confirm you are satisfied with the plotted route before commencing your journey it is possible to view the entire route. Route calculation conditions can be changed if necessary for a re-calculation or the route simply confirmed. If you want a closer look at your destination you can view a map of its vicinity.

The Sony NV-U44 provides a wide range of possibilities for entering your desired destination including:

Home Search: press the home icon or gesture with and inverted “V” to get a route back to your home address.
Address Search: search by entering house number, street name or other address information. There is a built-in automatic auto complete function to speed up the entry process.
POI Search: search the 5 million Points-Of-Interests (POI) database for restaurants, hotels, ATMs etc. The search can be by name or category and can be restricted to the local area.
Intersection Search: search for an intersection as a destination
Recent Destinations Search: Quickly select your destination from a list of your recent destinations
Address Book Search: Search for only destinations stored in your personal address book.
Favorites Search: enables you to select one of your 4 favourite destinations.

A couple of less familiar options are also offered.

City Center Search: Select a city and a route will be calculated to the centre of it.
Quick Link Search: A method of quickly accessing a present POI name/category.

Nav-u Software

Downloadable from the Sony e-support website, the Nav-u Software package allows users to perform a number of data management tasks for the NV-U44 GPS Navigator such as:

Transferring and replacing map data
Managing the NV-U44’s Address Book
Downloading and transferring firmware upgrades
Downloading and transferring and guidance voice data

NV-U44 GPS Maps

Each NV-U44 comes pre-loaded with maps covering the entire United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
It is worth noting that for safety and security reasons Sony have built in a Password Lock comprising of a custom-user 4-digit numerical password to prevent unauthorized access.