I have been using an iPhone 3Gs for just over two years, so I took a look at the Motorola Razr and a couple of Samsung models. Amazing screens, seemingly faster than my old phone, but here's what I noticed:

1) New Android phones seem to go through battey charges like a kid with a bag of Cheetos. Even with BT and WiFi off, does the rest of the phone really drain the phone in less than a day?

2) Almost no hardware standardization. With my iPhone, I can pretty much use all the aftermarket docking stations and accessories to attach, charge and connect the phone. Is this an issue with Androids?

3) I see that some Androids won't qualify for Ice Cream Sandwich OS. How common is this?

I've had an HTC Evo for 1.5 years.

1) Yes, they seemingly eat batteries. I solved the problem by purchasing extra batteries and an external charger off ebay for around $20. I can swap batteries when the charge is down and then plug the dead battery in to the external charger. If I don't use any applications/internet my phone will hold a charge for the day.

2) I don't know. I do most of my shopping for phone accessories online. Ebay is a great source for cheap chargers, accessories, etc. I've never had an issue finding what I needed.

3) I don't eat ice cream with my phone so I'm unsure....I'm not sure which version I have. Every so often my phone tells me I need an update. I just click ok and it downloads.

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2009 ML320 Bluetec
1985 300CD
1981 300TD

Past Mercedes
1979 300TD
1982 300TD
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1998 E430
1984 300SD
1980 300SD

I notice that there's no equivalent of iHome type speaker docks, clock radios, etc. I take it that in most new cars, Android "integration" is via BT, rather than a cable?

I guess there is not a single port docking station that will both charge the device and play music like an iPhone/iPod can, so if that is your fancy then I guess the Android is inferior.

My android has a very nice speakerphone along with a "kickstand". I stream Pandora (and the likes) frequently and it sounds quite good playing from just the phone itself so I have never felt the need to plug it into something.

__________________
2009 ML320 Bluetec
1985 300CD
1981 300TD

Past Mercedes
1979 300TD
1982 300TD
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1998 E430
1984 300SD
1980 300SD

Like I said, the Motorola and Samsungs have great screens and the Google integration with GPS and mapping is much better than the iPhone OS. Home screen management seems better on Android's OS as well.

I've had my Droid 2 by Motorola for over a year now and like it. I rooted my Droid, which allowed me to take full control of the phone. Think of the differences between having administration rights to a pc versus having user rights. Rooting gives you admin rights, but will void your warranty. With rooting it, I have been able to shut off background apps, which as allowed me to decrease my battery usage...I used to get only 8-10 of use per charge, I now get about 3 days worth of battery charge.

As far as hardware standards, each droid phone is different, so they can't make a standard. To hook it up to your vehicle sound system, AUX jack is good, but Bluetooth is better, and there are a large number of Bluetooth accesories available.

I'll be ready for an upgrade in a few month, but am waiting for the Casio Gzone Commando to come out in 4G. i used to have a G'zone Boulder and beat the hell out of it, and the Commando is supposed to be built with the same mil specs as the Boulder.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

I was not trying to be sarcastic. It seemed you were looking for docking capability, so in that sense, the Androids are inferior.

I have never had an iPhone so I can't do a straight comparison. I do really like my Android.

__________________
2009 ML320 Bluetec
1985 300CD
1981 300TD

Past Mercedes
1979 300TD
1982 300TD
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1998 E430
1984 300SD
1980 300SD

Wow... never heard that before. my 3Gs wont work in any of the half dozen or so docking stations that I've stuck it on, same for aftermarket cables. Most of the folks I know with Android use the 1/8" jack to aux in of their stereo, or bluetooth. I would imagine with the open source nature of Android that there will be far more devices for use with them than there ever was for iPhone.

Can't wait to dump the proprietary paranoid world of iPhone and get into Android. No more iTunes, ever.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Hmm, my GLK350 works great with the 3GS (except for contact synching) or Touch, with the steering wheel controls. I have also experienced incompatability with "Not for iPhone" docks and chargers that do work with the Touch or other iPods.

Ice Cream Sandwich? Don't know, but probably not. It seems OS upgradability is not high on the Android priority list.

7 out of 10 Android Phones Never Ran Up-to-Date Versions of OS

There's a lot of info about OS updates here, and off the other links in the pages. ATT scored poorly with 0% updates, but I'd take that with a grain of salt. My phone got an update shortly after I purchased it, so at least a fraction of a percent was done.

Android 4.0 upgrade list: Is your device getting Ice Cream Sandwich? - Computerworld Blogs

I've had my Droid 2 since day one of release. Love it!
It does everything I need to and none of the things I don't.
Good camera 5mp is plenty for me, and only the one camera. No need for video chat.
Excellent speaker on its own for sound.
Mapping/GPS with Google works great.
Pandora rocks.
Tune-In Radio is also excellent.
Many other cool free apps all the time via Amazon.
MicroSD card is great for storage.
I did not root the phone. Works fine.
I really like the sliding real key Qwerty.
Battery life is much improved since the Gingerbread release and I can easily shut down battery draining stuff via Gingerbread features.
I doubt the phone is getting Ice Cream Sandwich, ever, which is fine.
Now, the equivalant is Droid 3 or Droid2 Global if you can get it, likely on sale as they are now pushing Droid4 (same size screen, better (and 2) cameras)
There was one time when I had to wipe the phone, but everything was backed up on the cloud, including all my apps. I just only reinstalled those that I use regularly, but all the others are readily available in a huge list if I need them, to then quickly re-install and then use.
That was a really nice surprise.
I see the iphone as more of a fashion statement these days, with my phone doing everything I would ever need out of the iphone and then some, except Siri, if you're really into that.
I have co-workers with the latest 4 whatever iphones and I have spent some time on them. I'm not too impressed.
The ability to buy docking stations very easily with the ports designed for the ipod/phone, etc. is huge for the iphone, though.
But, I don't need.
I have enough other music sources with their own speakers.
I really like my Squeezebox by Logitech. That's an amazing thing too, but I digress.
The Android Phones come in many qualities, but those by Motorola seem to me to be the most robust. I distinctly recall trying one by Samsung, but they had somehow butchered the OS compared to the Droid.
I would recommend the Droid 2, 2 Global, Droid 3, or if you have to have the latest, go with 4. I played around with the Droid X for a full day. It was indeed nice, but I really use the slide out Querty about 1/3 of the time.
1/3 is voice recognition, and the last 1/3 is virtual keyboard with the swype feature. That's pretty slick,too.
Big Droid Fan here.

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85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."

If you leave everything enabled on an iPhone, it's a paperweight pretty quickly, too.

When I'm not using the features, I turned off most of them with my LG Optimus droid and battery life is better than iPhone. Big drains include WiFi, BT and background data (the latter of which is a big one).

You're getting upset about standardization is because you're mixing apples and oranges. The iPhone is both a phone *and* an OS. The android is not: it is scores of hardware platforms running a few different flavors of android...so of course there is no standardization. (It's a rough analogy to being upset that your MB keys work great in your car, but not your house.) Here it pays to do your homework for the things that are important to you. I have a great little dock for mine, and the cool thing is it works with a standard usb/microusb cable that plugs into the dock. And my favorite thing is I don't need to load iTunes to move data/music/etc. on and off the device. So when you're looking for things like docking stations, it's based on the PHONE, not the OS. As for speaker accessories, all you need is a generic set that uses a 3.5mm input; the downside it is won't charge your phone for you.

As to ice cream sandwich, that's the newest android OS release and it targets newer hardware platforms. Just like you can't load the newest iPhone OS on an original iPhone, you can't load the newest release of android on older phones.

Ultimately, if you're an apple devotee then you love everything they do and the way they do it, much like the little cars at Disneyland will let you go anywhere you want so long as it's on the track they built and the direction they are going, you're just on-board and happy to be there. People who opt for a droid device don't really have that mindset.

Before the iPhone 3GS, I used a Palm Treo on VZW that had a physical keyboard, swapable battery packs and a touch screen, however the Motorola Droid had not yet come out. So I went with iPhone and AT&T. The iPhone 4 and 4S don't appeal to me since neither are LTE/4G.

The current generation Androids seem much more feature rich, but I am concerned that the aftermarket products for iPhone is huge compared to each individual Android powered phone, whether it's Moto, Samsung, HTC.

I will disagree somewhat about the OS upgrade. My 3GS can run iOS 5 and is older than any Moto Droid, so all things being equal the original Droid should be compatible with 4.0.

The older iphones run at least 4.0 but they may not run very snappy. I have never used an apple's iphone, but I tried android twice and I couldnt stand it.

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual
1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual

I had a Droid X for about a year and a half before getting my iPhone. It was an okay phone, but here is what I really disliked:

It would lag a lot with everything, and programs/apps kept crashing. It seemed to get worse when it was cold out too.

The battery life was crap. Lasted less than a full day of use and that was mostly in my pocket.

Camera was average, very grainy though.

Seemed cheap overall. All plastic parts and the battery cover never wanted to stay on.

I got an iPhone 4S and have not looked back since. It's night and day between the two.