The native apps are comparable on the two devices, providing email, camera, contacts, calendar, maps and navigation, browser, media playback, YouTube playback, and SMS. The iPad 2 also provides a notes app, whereas the Galaxy Tab 10.1 provides a calculator, IM, and a limited version of the that seems slower and jerkier than its iPad version. The Galaxy Tab's (still beta) Android Navigation app speaks directions as you navigate, as well as provides an on-screen live map and written step-by-step directions. The iPad 2's Maps app has comparable on-screen navigation capabilities but does not speak them as you drive. The Galaxy Tab's Android 3.1 OS also comes with the Movie Maker app for video editing; for the iPad 2, Apple's better-designed equivalent, , costs $5.

One of the Galaxy Tab 10.1's claims to fame is that it comes with Adobe's Flash Player 10.3, which the iPad . I found that the player did well with videos and basic Flash animations, such as those that let you rotate views, open content via hotspots, and the like. Flash games worked sometimes. Other and RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook have had trouble running Flash content, but the Galaxy Tab 10.1 looks like it may break that string of Flash failure.

However, not all tablet-specific Android apps take advantage of the Galaxy Tab 10.1's larger screen; for example, the USA Today tablet app sort of does, but not nearly as well as it does on the iPad. More typically, "tablet" apps remain stretched renditions of the smartphone version. Amazon.com's Kindle app, for example, displays one too-wide-to-read page when in landscape orientation, rather than two facing pages as on the iPad 2. The Twitter app, likewise, stretches columns. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn't display such legacy apps in a smartphone-sized window, as the iPad 2 does, to clue you in. Additionally, I haven't found Android apps that auto-adjust their display and capabilities depending on whether they're running on a smartphone or tablet -- a feature that has quickly become very common in the iOS world.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 and other Android tablets need a better stable of apps to foster the addiction that iPad users exhibit with their tablets. The growing selection does show some of the promise of the tablet form factor, but none is exceptional. It's a matter of both quantity and quality -- or lack thereof.

There are tens of thousands of apps for the iPad 2's iOS, from games to scientific visualization tools. Sure, there's a lot of junk, but you'll find . Android doesn't have anywhere near the same library of apps as iOS, but its smartphone-oriented apps portfolio is now in the thousands and growing, with many relevant apps such as Quickoffice, for which the Galaxy Tab 10.1 includes a basic version with limited creation and editing capabilities. I often find that iOS apps are more capable than their Android equivalents (such as the Kindle app) -- but not always (Angry Birds, for example).