TKP picked up his own 1st tablet (bought wife the iPad long ago), a Samsung Galaxy Tab. 1280 x 800 pixels Being a Droid like his Droid phone (the 'old' DroidX original) gives some overlap to features and learning curve. For instance the GT 10.1
Desktop UI has FIVE horizontially scrolling Desktops
At the same time this doesn't offer the univerasal applicability you get with Apples tech where there is only ONE manufacturer making the same version of each hardware. Each "Droid" will have it's own differences.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vneJeBPZfuQ&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL16FC2934B9625D0D
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-find-android-tablet-apps/
Manufacturers and Google alike keep referring to tablet-optimized Android apps, but what exactly does that mean, and how do you find them for tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab?
A minor mystery exists when it comes to Android tablet apps. At the press event announcing the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the first Android tablet PC, it was noted there would be revised or new apps “optimized” available for it.
But what, exactly, does “optimized” mean?
The semantic mystery
No one connected with the device could elucidate the optimization then or now. Over the last month, we’ve queried Samsung, Google and Sprint about the technical aspects of optimization and how an Android user can easily find or identify an optimized app. Unlike iPad-optimized apps in iTunes, optimized apps are not segregated in the Tab’s Android Market. Each party kept referring us to ask the other in a seemingly never-ending circle. The closest we got to an answer was this off-the-record quip:
“I think they just made the app more conducive to viewing on a large screen and probably increased the button sizes and whatnot in the assumption that someone is using the app on a device that is being handled with two hands (i.e. a tablet) rather than one.”
That’s it?
The difference is in the details
Discerning a difference between optimized and non-optimized apps is easy – but only after you’ve downloaded them. Non-optimized apps float in the middle of the Tab’s screen, and can’t be blown up as iPhone apps can on the iPad. Since the Tab’s Market app doesn’t segregate optimized apps, we did a search for “Galaxy Tab.” Up popped 114 results, many simply different versions of the same apps (such as multiple Museums city choices listed below).
But there really isn’t any way to know if an “optimized” app simply has been imperceptibly blown up from, say, 800 x 480 pixels (the resolution of the four Samsung Galaxy S phones) to the Tab’s barely larger 1024 x 600 pixel resolution, or if more extensive tinkering has been done to exploit the slightly more expansive Tab screen real estate.
Finding optimized Android tablet apps
Technically, all Android apps have to be “optimized” to work not only for specific Android devices (largely because screen sizes and buttons differ from phone-to-phone) but for differing Android operating system versions. Theoretically, the Market on any Android device should list only apps “optimized” for that device, one reason why you can buy Android apps only on the devices themselves, and not from a PC.
That being the case, the best way to dredge up apps that will look great on your new Android tablet remains search terms like “Galaxy Tab,” or simply checking out our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy Tab apps.
In Case You Missed It:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/the-best-samsung-galaxy-tab-apps/
Deck out your new tablet with the best Samsung Galaxy Tablet apps, from large-format newspapers to addictive games and smart utilities.
Since Samsung and Google seem to have trouble explaining what a tablet-optimized Android app is, much less showing you the best, we’ve taken the guesswork out of the mystery by rounding up our favorites. Sure, most of these choices are admittedly quite frivolous, but if you find yourself with a shiny new Android tablet, here are the apps to show it off with.
Galaxy Choice (tGrape)
Supposedly, Galaxy Choice organizes all of Galaxy Tab’s optimized apps. It doesn’t. Many of the 400 or so free apps listed are regular old non-optimized Android apps, including ones the Tab will never use, such as phone-call-recording apps. But Choice is actually a better-organized app store than Google Marketplace. The app operates in landscape mode, with a scrollable list of apps always present in the left third of the screen, and the description of a highlighted app in the remaining two-thirds on the right. Text is crisper and cleaner than in the Marketplace, you get more and better screen shots, 50 top “What’s Hot” apps, categories, Search by any keyword, and you can even browse by “Apps 4 U” after filling out a short profile with your age and topic likes. Since it’s a new app, there aren’t many app review comments, so it’ll be hit-or-miss for a while.
Fun Towers (Blatter.com)
We actually hate this app, largely because some of us have an addictive personalities and this solitaire game is ridiculously addictive. Like Galaxy Choice, you play in landscape mode. There are three interconnected, four-line playing card pyramids, or towers (bottom row has four cards, second row has three cards, etc.), with only the bottom row of cards face-up. The remaining 23 cards are exposed one at a time. You tap an exposed card on the pyramids if it is within one pip of the exposed deck card (i.e. if the exposed deck card is a Jack, tap a Q or a 10 on the pyramid) to move it to the exposed deck pile. The more cards your move from the pyramids to the exposed deck pile, the more pyramid cards are exposed. You win a round when you eliminate all the pyramid cards, and you get a new set of pyramids on the next level. The whole thing is timed, so you have to move fast and not miss that new seven that pops up when the exposed deck card is a six. You can move an ace on a king, and vice versa. Even if you lose, you want to start all over. And over. And over. We haven’t eaten or slept in days. Sell the car, sell the kids, we’re never coming back. Must. Tap. Cards.
Police Radio Lite (MoMojo)
Just what it says – it’s a police and fire scanner on the Tab. How cool is that? The lite version includes just the LAPD, the NYFD and the Washington, D.C., police, fire and EMS departments. For just a $1.49 upgrade, you get what seems to be every police, fire and emergency department in the country, and departments in cities in 10 countries outside the U.S. (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and Germany). You can even keep listening after you close the app – while you’re shooting up on Fun Towers, for instance. You have to go to the menu to end the sometimes static-filled but compelling stream. Perfect for ambulance chasers everywhere.
The New York Times (The New York Times Company)
Still the best source for top-notch, old-fashioned, objective journalism, even on the Tab. While the “optimized” app is simply a larger version of the regular Android app, it is larger and easier to read without changing the font size, and the text is large enough to tap without accidentally hitting an adjacent item – all of which is the whole point of optimization.
SparkChess HD Lite (Media Division SRL)
We’re bad chess players (poker is more our game) so we won’t claim to be a great expert on virtual chess games. But even to a novice like us, this chess app was easy to figure out and play – tap a piece and the eligible squares it can be moved to light up in green. You get a three-quarter view of the board as if you’re sitting over the white side, which sort of obscures the front row of pawns when you start, and we still haven’t figured out how to castle (even though the programmed opponent has no trouble doing so). There are two levels of difficulty in this free version: Cody (easy) and Claire (a little harder). We actually beat Cody – accidently. We meant to tap on our queen and hit our Bishop instead, which produced a checkmate move we didn’t even see. Sort of like hitting a two-outer on the river in the game we do know something about. You need the full version to get better opponents, but oddly the “Get the Full Version” button takes you to Windows and Mac versions($8.99) Web page. We haven’t been able to find the full Tab version.
Color Flashlight (Notes)
Galaxy Tab’s 7-inch screen emits a really bright light when all white. How bright? One commenter wrote “Changing flat tire in 28-degree weather with no street light. Saved my life!” That’s pretty bright. Not only can you adjust the intensity of the light, you can choose from a rainbow of colors (maybe red for romantic situations instead of a cheesy red light bulb in a towel-draped table lamp), and cool party effects such as strobe, emergency (black-white flashing alternately on each half of the screen), text (you can type in any word, such as HELP), blinking text, police (alternating red-and-blue screen halves), spiral, and candle (perfect for encouraging concert encores), with speed and frequency adjustments where appropriate.
Museums (Android’s Future)
Culture, with a capital “C,” made easy. There are six city-specific apps – Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C. You get categorized listings (mansions, art, free, history, science), and each listing has all the relevant visitors information: address, phone number, hours, admission fees. On an Android phone, tapping the phone number initiates a call to the site. At the bottom is a tappable buttons for collections, events, membership and parking info, each of which leads further to appropriate Web pages squeezed into the app’s frames, and mapped directions from your current location. You don’t have to actually want to go anywhere – the app is just fun to explore for future forays.
TouchTouchDroid (Jindroidapps)
It’s sort of a Tetris thing, with different color animated Droid icons (you know, the one that looks like R2D2) floating from bottom to top that you have to eliminate. Each Droid has a circular symbol on its tummy to indicate how to destroy it : a single tap, a double tap or a tap-and-hold. The more successful you are, the faster the Droids float up. After a few minutes, your fingers will be flying, tapping and holding as if someone speeded up the film of your life.
Vintage Comic Droid (Eingrad)
Oh, the nostalgia reeks from this supremely and nearly bottomless treasure trove of pre-1960 comic book entertainment. Here are the comics thoughtlessly thrown away by moms of guys of a certain age, resurrected. Yes, the app is missing DC and Marvel titles, but there are literally hundreds of other comics you won’t need a flashlight under your bed blanket to leer at, such as Joe Palooka, G.I. Joe, Space Adventures, Racket Squad, Henry Aldrich, Howdy Doody, Terry and the Pirates, Rex Allen, and Tales of Horror. You know, really obscure but wonderful wastes of moral-corrupting, juvenile-delinquent-creating stuff. It takes a while for the app to download, and a while for each individual full-color comic to load (files are around 15-25 MB per issue). Pages don’t always fit on the screen (there are + and – resizing buttons), and you can’t swipe to the next page, you have to use left-right arrows that appear only when you tap the screen, but, holy mackerel, what a find! We can’t believe all this is free.
Plasma Lamp (Infinite Dreams)
You know those goofy plasma globes you see at Spencer’s Gifts or Hammacher Schlemmer? Here’s a two-dimension version of it, except it’s a game. You drag your finger in the globe to create a plasma stream (think the Nexus ribbon from Star Trek 7: Generations), aimed at oncoming circles. Each circle has a line over it indicating – I don’t know, shield strength? You hold you plasma on the circle until the lineshield strength meter dwindles and the circles satisfyingly explodes. The bigger the circle, the longer you have to hold to plasma on it to drain its power. It’s not quite as additive as Fun Towers or as frustrating as TouchTouchDroid, but the visual and plasma sound effects are trés sci-fi cool – although you risk raw fingertips from dragging the streams around. In that case, just watch the globe and its streams radiate hypnotically.