Most of us have had the experience of being somewhere unfamiliar, looking for somewhere to eat that won't result in food poisoning. I had it recently, walking around Nottingham's streets trying to find a decent Chinese or Indian takeaway.

But you don't have to worry about stuff like this if you happen to own an iPhone. There are numerous apps available on the iTunes App Store that allow you to use the phone's built-in GPS to pinpoint your location and find all the restaurants in your local area.

The Around Me app is an excellent example, and allows you to find banks, restaurants, hotels, supermarkets (basically anything you might need) and then provides you with user reviews, directions and a wealth of other information on your chosen listing.

Your other option of course is to use the phone's 3G capabilities and Google what you're looking for; something that was nearly impossible to do so quickly and easily before the mass distribution of smartphones. Whilst wandering around Nottingham for example, i performed a quick search using the terms 'Chinese takeaway Nottingham' & 'Indian Takeaway Nottingham' using the iPhones Safari browser. I immediately found several useful results, most of which allowed me to find a suitable takeaway and then access user reviews, recommendations and directions whilst on the go.

Your last option, if you can't get your phone online at all whilst out and about (and therefore can't download apps or get onto 3G to do a Google search) is to use local directory enquiries to find a suitable takeaway, which should allow you to find a suitable restaurant wherever you are. So, to give you an idea, i rang and asked for good Nottingham takeaways and was immediately given the number of one that the operator recommended, as they lived in Nottingham themselves.

So you can always use your phone to find a good restaurant or takeaway one way or another, and this is just one of a thousand reasons why it's a good idea to get yourself a smartphone.