Lastminute.com creates Android application

Mobile software can lead you straight to the nearest pub

The G1 phone knows where you are

Lastminute.com has created a mobile application for users of Android-based mobile phones designed to help find out what's going on near you.

The software, called nru, runs on the T-Mobile G1 phone – currently the only device that uses Google's Android operating system – and uses the in-built GPS positioning in the handset to determine where customers are.

From that location, the application can tell users about things to do nearby, such as restaurants, bars, cinema and theatres. A compass in the G1 also allows the software to tell which way the phone is facing to show customers which way to go to find their chosen destination.

The software is one of the first examples of a consumer business developing applications to take advantage of the increasingly location-based features of mobile phones.

"nru is an innovative solution which allows users to quickly find nearby things to do, whether they're after a meal out, a trip to the cinema or the nearest pub, just by moving their phone around. We believe this will be a popular and useful application for all G1 phone owners," said Lastminute.com head of innovation Marko Balabanovic.