Walmart's "Dads and Grads" sale includes HDTVs, Blu-ray players, game systems

Consumer electronics gear is a big component of Walmart's upcoming Father's Day sales. Among the featured items: a $749 47-inch Philips 1080p LCD, and a $158 Sony Blu-ray player with access to streaming movies. Some of the deals are available now, some on June 13th, and some are Web-only specials.

The 47-inch Philips LCD TV, model 47PFL3704D/F7, is a 1080p model that's usually priced at $900 or more at other retailers. It's only available online. The Sony Blu-ray player wasn't identified, but our guess is that it's the BDP-S270, a WiFi-ready model that has access to several streaming services, including Netflix and Slacker. It's not widely available elsewhere, but was $10 more expensive at Walmart in April.

If you're looking for some Blu-ray movies to go with the player, starting on June 13th there are a number of titles, including Avatar and Book of Eli, for under $25, plus some "3 for $30" Dad-friendly Blu-ray bundles that include movie titles such as Training Day, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Lethal Weapon (1 and 2), Terminator Salvation, and more. This offer is available only on Walmart.com.

If dad's into video games, Walmart has an Xbox system (256MB of internal memory) for $199 with a $50 gift card, plus two free games and a wireless controller. The package isn't specified, but it appears to be the Arcade Spring bundle, which is available for $200 at Best Buy, but without the controller.

For Nintendo fans, Walmart is also lopping $10 off the price of Wii Play, which costs $40 bundled with a free Wii remote. That's the same price as Amazon, which offers free shipping.

For a complete listing of the deals, visit Walmart's Dads and Grads section on its website.

—James K. Willcox

Since the summer, Consumer Reports GPS testers have focused their attention on the latest navigation development, iPhone applications.

In general, we've found iPhone GPS apps to be crisp and colorful on-screen, but also less reliable than standalone units when it comes to pinpointing your actual location. Poor sound quality and low volume are frequently a problem. And anyone purchasing one of these apps should remember that a car mount and charger adds to the overall price.

The good news is that because these are software applications, rather than manufactured devices, flaws can be fixed and new features added with frequent, often free updates. A number of the apps we've tested - highlighted below - have themselves seen an upgrade since we reviewed them.