One of the most popular features of desktop Web browsers is tabbed browsing, which lets you open multiple Web pages within the same window, placing each within a "tab" in that window. But despite the iPad's larger screen and closer-to-desktop performance, Safari on the iPad is closer to the iPhone version here: You can open up to nine Web pages simultaneously (vs. the iPhone's eight), but only one page is visible at a time, and to switch between pages, you must press a toolbar button to enter the Pages view. But even here, there's a nice improvement: Whereas the iPhone provides a one-page-at-a-time view for choosing a Safari page--you swipe to cycle through all your open pages--Safari on the iPad gives you an Exposé-like screen for previewing all your open pages simultaneously; tap on one to bring it forward, or tap any page's close (x) button to close that page.

Another minor tweak that pays big dividends is the way you access bookmarks. The bookmarks display in Safari on the iPhone takes over the entire screen; you can't see any part of the Web page you were viewing. Thanks to the iPad's larger screen--and its new popover interface elements--iPad Safari displays your bookmarks in an onscreen menu that leaves most of the Web page visible. (The menu covers more of the page in portrait mode than in landscape mode, but can display more bookmarks and folders in portrait orientation without scrolling.)

One of my favorite changes to Safari on the iPad compared to the iPhone version--and a change that brings the iPad's browser closer to its Mac counterpart--is the addition of a bookmarks bar just below the toolbar. As with Safari on a Mac or Windows, you can place bookmarks or folders of bookmarks in this bar for quicker access. By default, the bookmarks bar appears whenever you tap in the URL or Search field, but a new Safari setting lets you choose to keep the bar visible all the time. If you sync your Safari bookmarks with your computer (using iTunes or MobileMe), the bookmarks bar mirrors Safari's bookmarks bar on your Mac or Windows PC, with one minor exception: iPad Safari doesn't support the concept of tab groups, so a tab group in desktop Safari's toolbar is converted to a folder in Safari on the iPad.

We'll have more coverage of Safari on the iPad in the coming days and weeks. I'll also be taking a similar look at Mail on the iPad compared to its iPhone and Mac counterparts. So stay tuned.