Sanyo HDD Gorilla follows the call of the wild

The Gorilla NV-HD 500 from Sanyo is a navigation device/ DVD player with a 20GB hard drive and a GPS receiver. It can be used as a handheld device or put into a cradle in a car for full entertainment functionality.

In navigation mode, the HD Gorilla serves up dynamically updated maps from the hard drive when the device is mounted near the car driver.

These visualise in full colour 3D the area you're driving through or inquiring about, using a cartoon gorilla Avatar that represents the car or person in motion and gives the system it's name.

If it's mounted on a headrest, for viewing by people in the back seat, it will also play DVD movies and serve as a surround sound car stereo.

The price will be about $500, company representatives said.

This follows on the heels of a similar GPS car navigator from Sony, which together with the Sanyo Gorilla represents a significant investment in car navigational and entertainment capabilities.