The native apps are comparable on the two devices, providing email, camera, contacts, calendar, maps and navigation, browser, a music player, a YouTube player, a notepad app, and SMS messaging. The Xoom provides a third-party notes app, filling a hole in the standard Android app suite.

But the Xoom also includes the standard (still beta) Android Navigation app, which 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. Unlike the iPad 2, the Xoom comes with a calculator app and instant messaging app; neither tablet has apps for weather or social networking. The Xoom also comes with the Movie Maker app for video editing; for the iPad 2, Apple's nicely designed equivalent, , costs $5.

Neither device supports Flash Player, though Motorola pushed an update meant to prepare the Xoom for Flash Player just this weekend. Adobe promises that Flash Player 10.2 for the Xoom's Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" OS (and for Android 2.3 "Gingerbread") will finally be available from the Android Market on March 18. There of course won't be a due to Apple's prohibition.

Right now, the real issue with the Xoom is the scarcity of available apps. Longtime standby apps such as the New York Times aren't available yet, but the number of tablet-specific apps in the Android Market has more than doubled in the past two weeks, from 16 to 37.