on my anroid phone I have an settings of accounts and settings where i have yahoo, gmail and i get an instant notification ringtone when i get an email.
Yes, it is basically just like the phone, only larger. I have multiple email accounts and my Acer tablet signals a tone when every email comes in. You can configure it just about any way you like. There are even apps that have special notification parameters you can customize. Also, most of the apps that you bought for your phone will copy to you tablet. My Droid and me tablet are almost clones of each other.