Usability also pertains to the ability to upgrade your OS.
It's not the OP fault that Android doesn't employ the same ease of use for OS upgrades that iOS does. He went and purchased a phone and got an old Android version. That is a usability issue.
Telling someone that there's a version of Android that is better is beyond the point if he cannot upgrade easily to that version so his observation is his opinion but appropriate.
Yup - this is kind of my point; in theory, Apple doesn't allow rubbish iPhones (remember, I said in theory).
Google has no control over this, so I've ended up having a relatively poor Android experience.
It's back to the old Apple Mac argument vs Windows; the hardware & software designed to work together to provide a great experience.
BTW I think it sucks how Android phones seem mostly stuck on the OS they came with. Even worse is Microsoft & Elop at Nokia; marrying Nokia's future to Windows Phone & then announcing that the current handsets won't be upgradeable
My wife now has my old 3GS & in the fall she will be able to upgrade to iOS6. OK, it will be a limited iOS6 & probably pretty slow, but it's iOS6 all the same & Apple are trying to make as many features as possible available on the 3GS. That's pretty good ...
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Keep in mind that there are differences between the iOS and Android UI. If you are used to iOS, those subtle differences will be annoying at first. You think things work one way when it doesnt. I feel the same way when I first started using an iOS device after being so used to Android. Although many things are very similar, those little differences make for a rather frustrating experience for me.
The subtle differences tend to be less used functions. For instance, I had a rather difficult time figuring how to delete objects. I was used to long tapping and then selecting from a menu on Android. In iOS, you swipe the object instead of a long tap to bring up the delete option. Another subtle difference was I could not figure out how to move the cursor to the middle of a word on iOS. I could do this on Android by tapping the character where I want to put the cursor. I was frustrated when iOS kept selecting the whole word or moving the cursor to the end. I found out later that iOS doesn't allow you to move the cursor to the middle of a word.
It's hard for me to objectively say which is better since I am so used to Android. I like the Android UI more overall, but I think that it has mostly to do with the fact that I am so used to it compared to iOS. There are a few things I like more about iOS. In iOS, the mouse-over gesture in the browser makes more sense than in Android, for instance.
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The OP said he bought a "cheapish" Android phone. I quite understand that he doesn't want to pay a premium price, but a cheapish Android phone is not going to be as good as a high end phone.
If I already own a high end car and decided I need a second car and decided to buy a cheap one from a different manufacturer, I can complain how the cheap car isn't as good as the high end cars. However, it does not properly reflect that the manufacturer of the cheap car isn't as good as the manufacturer of the high end car. If I buy high end cars from both manufacturers then, my opinions of the cars would better reflect the quality of the manufacturers.
a. Yes, I appreciate that a different OS is going to do things differently & you just need to get used to some things, but other things are fairly clearly worse. Two examples (one-all for each OS)
ai. Turning n flight mode on Android requires a confirmation dialogue. On iOS, it just does it (iOS = fewer taps)
aii. Turning on /off WiFi on Android is available from the notification screen, on iOS it requires you to go into Settings (Android = fewer taps).
All in all I think iOS does a better job marrying simplicity with functionality - just my opinion as someone who has a degree in psychology & is pretty familiar with Jakob Nielsen, Steve Krug, etc (but still just one man's opinion - not trying to come over all superior here ...)
b. The 'cheapish' Android phone cost £250 - so I guess about US$400. Far less than the iPhone 4S I usually use, but not exactly $100...
