Favorite new iPhone 3.0 apps--screenshots

It's one thing to talk about the iPhone's improvements with the 3.0 software upgrade, and another to see how they respond in actual third-party applications. From multitasking and in-app purchase to push notification and playing iTunes songs from an app, these apps are among the first to make use of Apple's new tricks.

Shazam 1.7 now uses the phone's GPS to flag the precise location from which you tag a song. It adds up to a map of your musical journey. Other additions include sending favorite songs to a friend or to Twitter, so others can buy it at will. Shazam also now supports the MacAlly iVoice III external microphone.

The note-taking app Evernote gets a few new features as well as general streamlining in its latest version. Our favorite new features: the map view for notes, which locates geotagged notes (those taken on an iPhone, but not on the Web) on a Google map; and the landscape view for notes, which makes it easier to see all your work. We also like the new improved sync for the iPhone, which stores more of the data on the iPhone. It makes finding notes easier when you're not online.

Caption by Rafe Needleman

AP Mobile 3.0 takes advantage of the iPhone's new notifications endeavor to push out breaking news stories when the app is closed. You'll get to choose the type of story you'd like to be pinged about, like national, local, or sports headlines.

In addition, AP Mobile now lets you file stories away on Evernote, a multiplatform note-taking service (see slide 2).

Debuted just for the iPhone 3.0 OS, Leaf Trombone: World Stage uses the new push notification to galvanize a community of players to judge duet performances in real time.

Here's a closer look at Leaf Trombone: World Stage's mode selection for playing duets with other iPhone 3.0 users worldwide.

Gokivo's (iTunes link) turn-by-turn GPS and directions application ambitiously squeezes in a handful of software tricks, including in-app purchase to buy tiered subscriptions for voice directions, Bluetooth syncing, and an embedded iTunes controller to play songs between voice commands.

Zillow's "real estate porn" app for the iPhone now gets push notifications. If you set up a search for a particular house configuration (number of bedrooms and price, for example) in a given area, whenever a new home comes on to the market that meets those criteria, you'll get a notification number on the Zillow app icon. Not like you need to jump fast these days to get an offer in on a house before it sells, but it's a cool new use of the push technology in the iPhone 3.0 software.

Caption by Rafe Needleman