Technofile: A hundred years ago, trying to meet up with people who lived further than the next village was a tricky affair. The landscape and the weather were regular foes in navigating our way around.

However, in a few years time a new technology will make "Sorry I'm late, I got lost" a thing of the past.

Peering through electronic shops' windows, it's easy to pass over the odd-looking satellite navigation devices stuck mournfully behind the glass. Usually the preserve of country types and hill walkers, "SatNavs" are going to start to become more ubiquitous and cost less as the technology shrinks and gets cheaper.

An indication of this came recently when Sony unveiled its first ever satellite navigation system this month. Until now, the market has been dominated with companies such as Magellan, Garmin, Navman and TomTom. Sony's Nav-U is adaptable as a handheld device and can be used in cars. It sports a two gigabyte (GB) hard drive containing maps of all of Europe (funnily enough, excluding Greece) and a large 9.5cm screen.

Nav-U boasts 3D maps and Sony is making much of what it claims is a very intuitive interface.

Price or availability have not been released yet but the device does not have as many features as the best players in the market, indicating that Sony plans to do more in this area.

In terms of a comparison, other products sport plenty of features. In fact, the whole SatNav arena has suddenly become quite competitive.

TomTom's Go 700 has more storage and a touchscreen - a feature which makes the device easier to use than if it had physical buttons.

Magellan recently introduced a highly specified portable, RoadMate 760, an upgrade on the 700 model. This will turn text-to-speech intuitively, telling you to "turn right onto the High Street" instead of "turn right in 100 metres".

You also get a 20GB hard disk (27 in-detail European maps) a 2.5 x 3in screen, a database of one million points of interest and an infra-red port so you can beam addresses from your PDA to it. It's on sale now for around €1,016.

Meanwhile, Magellan has recently introduced three new handheld SatNavs in the eXplorist range, which are all aimed at hikers. These devices carry USB and SD cards, allowing map updates and, at last, colour screens.

The 500 and 600 models are on sale for €508 and €580 respectively, while the 400 models are on sale for €406.

The new Navman iCN 520 is a firm favourite with SatNav fans and this new model has a touch-screen system designed for in-car use. It also features the latest TeleAtlas maps and the SmartST 2005 Navigation software, which is good for finding streets, postcodes, and points of interest.

The iCN 520 has local country maps for €500 and the iCN 520 Premium European Edition has full European maps on CD and a remote control for €650.

However, looking at Sony's move into SatNavs from above, it is likely that another version with a bigger hard disk will come out to step up to the plate.

More importantly, the move has implications for what it does in the mobile phone world.

It's already possible to download SatNav-style applications to mobiles which use location-based services to tell you where you are. However, nothing beats GPS for accuracy and, as the technology gets smaller, adding a GPS to a phone will be a no-brainer to encourage sales of high-end handsets.

And with GPS in your phone, the only "getting lost" you'll be doing will be intentional.

SatNavs are particularly useful for holidaymakers touring unfamiliar terrain, particularly in Europe where language can also be an issue.

An Irish company is offering a solution without the cost involved in the purchase of a system for what is essentially occasional use.

Dublin-based Satnavhire.ie rents out machines to motorists looking to travel in the Britain or continental Europe.

"For a fraction of the purchase price, you are getting the latest satellite navigation equipment exactly when and where you need it," says company managing director John Dundon.

The device can be fitted temporarily to a car windscreen or dashboard and is powered by the cigarette lighter.

Ireland and Portugal lag the rest of western Europe in coverage by SatNav maps so the service is less useful to domestic holidaymakers.