User Experience: Elegance vs. Customization

image copyright Apple Inc.

People who like complete control over the customization of their phones, and want to be able to fiddle the lowest level functions, will prefer Android thanks to its greater openness (one downside of this, though, is that each company that makes Android phones can tweak them, sometimes replacing default Android apps with inferior tools developed by that company). Android customization can also require some complex technical skills that the average person rarely has.
Taken as a comparison done on a features list, the distance between Android and iPhone doesn't seem that far--and it seems that Android is ahead in some areas. And while that's true, the experience of using a phone, a device that's with you all day long, doesn't boil down to what boxes get checked. The experience is driven by quality and attention to detail, how the device works and how you feel about it. There's a reason people feel passionately enough about the iPhone
to wait hours to get one on the day of a new model's release. This happens sometimes with Android phones, but less often and at lesser scale.
Most people want a phone that works well, lets them run the apps they want, and is easy to use. On that front, the iPhone wins hands down. Apple’s intense focus on ease of use, quality experience, and things just working (see hardware, apps, and Flash above for examples of how Android’s openness can make life harder) makes it the clear choice for most users.
Winner: iPhone