Just got one. I decided that fair enough, Apple stuff is very locked down, and it'll be interesting to have this "freedom" that Android users bleat on about
The jury is very much out.
With HTC at least, the freedom thing couldn't be much further from the truth, as unless you root it, it's locked down just as much as an iPhone - worse in some ways (e.g. there's an update out which they haven't pushed to me yet - I can't apply it manually without unlocking the bootloader). Whilst that doesn't sound so bad, if you root the HTC device or unlock the bootloader, it has to be done through HTC-Dev - sure they allow it, but they record the event and permanently void the warranty on your phone. Faulty buttons? Doesn't matter - they'll insist on replacing the motherboard at your cost due to it having "illegal" mods on it. (They've been told to use the term "illegal" even though it's open source and perfectly legal)
At least with Apple your warranty stays intact even if you jailbreak, as long as you restore it. This on the other hand goes on permanent record with HTC and makes you illegible even if you un-root.
Music in the UK is a pain in the backside if I want anything remotely as convenient as iTunes+iCloud - there's no Google Music here, there's Amazon Music but in the UK it doesn't integrate with Amazon Cloud yet and their Android app is crippled here, basically... yes I can just copy MP3s onto it which is a godsend when I'm away from my iTunes library (seriously isn't it about time they put the whole iTunes into the cloud?) but the whole experience with the music is backwards to say the least.
It's buggy:
There's a screen flicker problem
The colours are WAY oversaturated to the point of ridiculousness
The bluetooth media profile is very hit-and-miss with my car stereo - IF it connects, sometimes there's hiss
I often have to tap 2 or 3 times before the OS will register my tap
I haven't a clue what it backs up (it's not documented), I think that it automatically backs some stuff up to Google but I don't know what. And I don't know if there's even a way of backing up the apps, text messages and general configuration, without rooting (byebye warranty) and installing Titanium Backup. So that's always a worry.
There's no difference in vibration pattern between a text and an email (unless you root and hack it)
App organisation is - well, good enough, I just regret turning off the option where it automatically added an icon to the home screen - as the home screen supports folders but the launcher doesn't, it's just an alphabetical list of every app on the phone. So I have to go through adding them all to the home screen so I can categorise them - a laborious process with no equivalent of iTunes's relatively new on-screen app management.
The whole thing is quite complicated with about 10 different ways of doing anything. Picking up the iPhone is a bit of a relief as it's so simple.
In terms of apps and games, it's definitely a second class citizen compared to the iTunes App Store, full of far uglier alternatives with ads plastered all over them.
I note that they've gone down the iPhone route in more ways than just being locked down - sealed battery, sealed RAM, artificially limited USB port capability etc. All the disadvantages of Apple products without the polish...
So do I hate it? No
I'm rather disappointed that it's not the phone of my dreams and has so many flaws, but it has good points.
The screen is FANTASTIC and the main reason I'm inclined to carry it around as my main phone despite its disadvantages. If Apple don't make at least some version of the iPhone 5 in this form factor, they're nuts and are just asking for HTC and Samsung to beat them. There's a world of difference between the two (the iPhone looks like looking through a keyhole in comparison) and yet it still feels perfectly comfortable in my pocket and hand.
The integration with Twitter and Facebook is great, and the ability to share things so easily with other services (which can add themselves to the share menu) is great. Thank goodness for Bluetooth file sharing without jailbreaking, too.
Being able to get at the filesystem easily and drop music or pictures or whatever else in without it throwing a fit like iOS would, is a breath of fresh air.
Widgets are great, as is the ability to mix them with icons
Visually I actually find it more appealing than iOS (from what I've seen ICS itself is still as ugly as sin, but HTC prettied it up wonderfully with Sense)
Technically / generally it "feels" superior as an OS, I'm sorry to say. Don't kill me, but iOS just seems dated and simplistic in comparison. OTOH, as I mentioned, it's not the easiest to use.
All in all I really don't know. I've had it since Friday and I'm undecided yet on the pros/cons balance. "We'll see"... some bugfixes and a UK Google Music store would definitely be the biggest things to tip the balance in its favour.
