Spoken like a fan… young male…
I have both types of devices in the house, and I enjoy different things about both. But to not acknowledge that iOS has its own ups and downs (how many times lately have I had to force close the app store? How crappy crappy crappy CRAPPY is the entire iTunes experience?) is also silly.
I do think that iOS can still boast a more responsive UI, and the only reason Android is catching up is because at some point in time the hardware just reaches that point that horsepower wins out. But that doesn’t matter. Who cares if it’s the horsepower winning out rather than optimization when the keyboards finally feel the same (and at least Android is wealthy with selection), transitions feel the same, etc.
It just becomes academic.
Right now my main reason to keep iOS around is it still has a better selection of games for preschoolers. The iPad also has AWESOME battery life, so you’re not always worried about plugging it in every night.
Speaking of preschoolers, here’s a test for intuitive UI… we routinely give our children (one 5, one less than 2) our various devices. The youngest can navigate iOS without any issue at all. He can only navigate my Android seamlessly for now when his icons are on the homescreen (which happens automatically) ORRRRRrrrrr… when I first tap on the “Applications” icon for him.
Once he’s in Applications, he can swipe until he sees the one he wants and then tap it.
He’s 22 months.
It’s that pesky “Applications” icon. Such a counter-intuitive name for a counter-intuitive experience. Imagine a computing device in which you have to click one thing before finding another? That would be like having OSX or Windows without an icon-covered desktop. I mean we know nobody clicks “Start” or goes to the “Applications” folder in OSX… we only use the desktop icons.
If anyone from the age 4 and up can’t figure out where the app drawer is, which brings them to an essentially iOS-like experience, they have some sort of cognitive issues.
So yes, iOS is easier to use for a 22-month old compared to Android not pre-populated with icons (and by default, newly-installed apps propagate icons to the home screen, so “Monkey Lunch Box” should be available for him as soon as you install it). But other than that, Android is easier because it can have a subset of the icons he really wants or needs.
Fast forward to age 4 (actually, I think the older one was only 3 now that I think about it) and they can grasp the intricacies of the more mind-boggling Android experience, wrap their heads around the counter-intuitive “applications” icon, and are off to the races.