Using Vodafone Find & Go with A-GPS on the Sony Ericsson W715

With built in A-GPS technology, the Sony Ericsson W715 is equipped for a variety of location finding, mapping and route-finding applications.

The phone has a selection of location-based services pre-loaded, including Google Maps, Sony Ericsson's Tracker workout monitoring app, and, in the UK exclusive version of the W715, Vodafone's Find & Go application.

Find & Go is an application that enables users to get directions, plan routes, search for places of interest and addresses, and get step-by-step voice directions for routes and updated 3D Sat Nav mapping as you go along for driving or walking.

The basic Find & Go package is free, but doesn't include the voice guided instructions, 3D updated Sat Nav view, traffic updates and traffic optimised routing. An upgraded Find & Go Complete package that includes all of this requires a monthly subscription (usually £4.89 per month, though the  W715 comes with a three-month trial free).

You can use the Find & Go package whenever you like, though data costs may be incurred, as mapping and routing updates are sent to the phone over the air.

Here's how to use it...

Using Vodafone Find & Go with A-GPS

1. From standby press Menu (Figure 1).
2. In the main menu, highlight Location Services (Figure 2). Press Select.
3. In the Location Services menu, highlight Find & Go (Figure 3). Press Select.
4. The first time you use it, follow the instructions to download the Find & Go application to the phone. This is free and should take just a few minutes. 
5. When you launch Find & Go, a disclaimer appears. Press Options. Highlight Accept, or Accept Always (so the disclaimer doesn't appear every time you use the service) and press Select (Figure 4). The phone will now go online to connect to the service.
6. A warning about how not to use the service appears (Figure 5). Press OK.
7. You are now connected to the Find & Go service. A page of options appears (Figure 6).
8. You can now use all the basic level services for route planning, searching and location mapping.

Map Me

• To get your current location on a map, highlight Map Me and press the central navigation select button. A map of your location appears (Figure 7).
• You can get the address and precise location information by pressing the select key (Figure 8).
• Press Options to see a variety of additional user options (Figure 9).

Find a place

To search for a place, highlight Find a place and press the select button (Figure 10). You can search in a variety of ways for businesses, services, addresses or other amenities.

You can do text searches by name, or search by category or by looking for nearby locations under another sub-section of categories (Figure 11).

Search by text

• To search by text, highlight the search panel and type in the name or address you're looking for. Scroll to highlight the Find button onscreen. Press the select button (Figure 12).
• The phone interrogates the online database and returns results (Figure 13), listing relevant nearby locations if you've searched by name.
• Scroll to highlight the result you want and press select (Figure 14).
• Options appear for Drive or Walk route instructions, or to view the location on a Map (Figure 15).
• You can now set your starting position from your current position or look up another starting location.
• Click on the preferred option. If you are using the basic Find & Go package, if you choose Drive you will be asked if you'd like to upgrade to the full turn-by-turn Sat Nav package (Figure 16). You can proceed to Upgrade or Skip (you will get the upgrade option offered each time you search). 
• You can choose a start position by selecting from one of the options available: My location; Enter address; Find a place; Recent locations; Saved locations; and Received locations (see search by category) (Figure 17).
• Once you have chosen or looked up a start point, highlight it and press select.
• The route will download and instructions will be displayed onscreen (Figure 18).
• Press the select button to view the route on an onscreen map (Figure 19). You can press Options to get options for zooming in and out, and other tools (Figure 20).

Search by category

• To search by category, in the Find a place menu, highlight Any category (Figure 11) and press select. A list of various categories appears (Figure 21). This enables you to narrow down your search criteria.
• Scroll down to select the option you require (Figure 22). Press Select.
• Highlight Find and press the select button (Figure 23).
• A list of results appears. Highlight the one you want to use. Press select (Figure 24).
• As above, click on the Drive, Walk or Map option you require to get routing or mapping instructions (Figure 25).
• You can get detailed routing instructions, by following the procedure outlined above in the Search by text section (from Figures 17-19).

Search nearby

• To search nearby, in the Find a place menu, highlight Search near me and press Select (Figure 26).
  
• A list of categories for getting nearby results for searches appears (Figure 27).
• Follow the above procedure for looking up locations.

Get directions
In the initial Find & Go main menu, you can get directions to and from locations.

1. Highlight the Get directions option (Figure 28). Press the select button.
2. You now have a selection of options for choosing a location - Enter address; Find a place; Recent locations; and Saved locations (Figure 29).
3. Select the option you require, using the same method described above under the Find a place section. Once you have found the required location, press select to define it as your destination.
4. Alternatively to search for an address, highlight Enter address and press Select (Figure 30).
5. Type in address details (Figure 31). Highlight the Search button onscreen. Press the select button. Your chosen location will appear (Figure 32). Press select to mark it as your destination.
6. After you have selected the destination and pressed select, you are presented with the Drive, Walk and Map options (Figure 15). Choose Drive or Walk, and you will need to choose a start point.
7. Click on one of these options. If you are using the basic Find & Go package, if you choose Drive you will be asked if you'd like to upgrade to the full turn-by-turn Sat Nav package (Figure 16). You can choose Upgrade or Skip to continue.
8. Follow the procedure outlined above (from Figures 17-19) to select a start position from a list of options: My location; Enter address; Find a place; Recent locations; Saved locations or Received locations.
9. Follow the procedure outlined previously to choose your start point.
10. Once a start point has been selected, you will get your route shown onscreen (Figure 33).
11. Press Options to get a menu of options for viewing a map, or getting an overview of the route and details (Figure 34).
12. To see your entire route projected onto a map, scroll to highlight the Route overview option. Press Select. The complete route appears on a map onscreen (Figure 35).

As well as these location search options, you can view Saved locations or Received locations on maps, and use them as start and end points for your route planning.

Once you have looked up addresses or used or saved locations, they will be stored in the Recent locations or Saved locations folders.

Upgrade to Find & Go Complete
You can easily upgrade to the full Satellite Navigation voice guided turn-by-turn instructions package. One way is to choose the Upgrade option when you're looking up routes (Figure 16).

• Alternatively, in the Find & Go main menu highlight Preferences. Press Select (Figure 36).
• In the Preferences menu, highlight Upgrade and press Select (Figure 37).
• You will be taken to the Find & Go download page, where you can choose to upgrade to the Find & Go Complete package (Figure 38). This is initially available as a free three-month trial service. Follow the instructions to download it.