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We were keen to put it to the test. The first step is easy: simply fire up the web browser and type in www.msn.co.uk. After the inevitable delay - we were using a standard GPRS connection - we arrived at the page.

The "Find My Location with Live Search" link sits just below an advert (Microsoft has to pay for this service somehow), and pressing it launched the service.

After a good few seconds, it was able to reveal... we were in London!

Technically, we have no issue with this. We were indeed in London. But that still leaves quite a bit of room for doubt, so we decided to see just how accurate it was by clicking on the Map option.

After a considerably longer wait - over 15 seconds - this revealed a small blue square set against pretty much the majority of Greater London.

We patiently clicked on the plus symbol beneath the map six or seven times, consuming around 30KB of data each time, before finally establishing that Microsoft's service thought we were just south of Trafalgar Square. So, about a mile out.

At this

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point we decided it may have been unfair and unrealistic to use it from an office so went out into the open air.

The results were mixed. It was initially able to pinpoint our location with more accuracy, and buoyed by this we searched for "pizza". The closest restaurant it could suggest was 3km away; we declined the offer.

To give a little comparison, we headed over to Google's mobile service, entered our postcode and performed the same search. It was able to reel off a number of pizza restaurants within half a mile.

But, notably, Google's mobile service doesn't yet offer the ability to locate where you are itself (though its separate download, Google Maps Mobile, does). In a fit of fairness, we used the "Find your nearest" service on Windows Live and opted for restaurants.

Drilling down to local restaurants then pizza restaurants, then opting for the postcode search, we were offered five nearby choices all clearly shown on an annotated map. Just note that it favoured chain restaurants rather than local establishments.

We tried to fire up Find My Location again to see if we could find a local taxi firm (we were getting tired), but by this time - for some unknown reason - the service had decided to stop working and refused to tell us where we were.

Ironically, we could have used Zingo. You dial 08700 700700, and it then uses similar technology to Find My Location to transmit your whereabouts to GPS-equipped London black cabs. You're then put through to the driver, who tells you how long it will take to reach you.

We can't yet give Find My Location a firm recommendation, but we can say that it's worth trying. If you are stuck in the middle of nowhere, it may well be your saviour.