Google has slapped notifications on to its Google App for the iPhone, so you'll have one more way to get distracted by your spam. The update adds pop-ups for Google Calendar notifications and a badge showing the number of new Gmails.
Presumably, Google avoided throwing up pop-up notifications for each email because, with the volume of email most of us receive, that would lead to a blizzard of bubbles clogging our screens. But people can already get a badge that alerts them to their new Gmail, without using the Google App, by taking advantage of Google's ActiveSync support.
Nevertheless, the notification feature is good news if you prefer Google's Web-based Gmail to looking at your mail in the iPhone's native email app, because of its superior search function or more Google-like user interface.
Google has also refreshed the search function in the app, so that it starts throwing up search suggestions while you're typing. In our tests over Wi-Fi, the suggestions popped up insanely fast, so it should definitely improve our efficiency in the Dog and Sprocket pub quiz.