PSP to get e-mail, GPS addon in 2006

February 5th, 2006, 13:57 Posted By: wraggster

Our friends over at PSP Vault posted this news:

<blockquote>There's been speculation for both, but now we have something solid: according to a recent article in PSM (viewable on the nightmarish official PlayStation forums), the PSP will be getting both e-mail capability (through a free firmware update) and a GPS addon. Both will arrive sometime this year.

The e-mail functionality, dubbed Sony Mail, is said to associate your PSP's unique hardware identification code with a new (Sony-branded?) e-mail address. Presumably this is to avoid tedious password entry, although it seems likely that we'll still have to key in our e-mails via our favourite gadget's amazing text entry scheme. Associating the address with your specific PSP machine also brings up the question of whether you could access this e-mail elsewhere--one would hope so.

The GPS addon was one of those things Sony teased us with at E3 two years ago and promised to never ever release, so I guess someone down in Tokyo's losing their job tonight. Apparently it will come in a bundle with a UMD containing maps and such. I think if this is reasonably-priced, say $50-60 or so (that'd be a wild guess, guys), it would be extremely competitive with standalone GPS navigation systems for cars, which easily cost as much as a PSP and a few games. PSM also says you'll be able to purchase future map updates on separate UMDs, since apparently someone at Sony forgot about this 'internet' thing again.

Details are light on both items for now, but it's fair to say the PSP's multifunctionality just keeps getting more interesting.</blockquote>

Can the PSP be turned into a Killer Satnav, lets hope so

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