After over four years of using an iPhone daily (first a 3G and then an iPhone 4), for the past month I’ve had the pleasure of using the Google-sanctioned LG Nexus 4 as my work phone. Trying to have a positive angle on things, I put together a short list of things I like about both OS’s:

Things I like about Android

1. The freedom to choose my default browser/camera/whatever
2. Third-party apps are less restricted by the OS
3. The notification system (mostly)
4. Superior autosuggest system (both in the stock keyboard and alternatives such as SwiftKey)
5. Widgets
6. Google Now (have no experience of Siri though, since it wasn’t supported on the iPhone 4)
7. Integration into Google’s ecosystem and support for multiple Google accounts
8. Automatic app updates

Things I like about iOS

1. Better scrolling and touch responsiveness in general (not sure how much this is a hardware issue)
2. Consistent, well thought-out UI
3. Despite #2 in the previous list, overall better selection of quality apps
4. Better default lockscreen notifications
5. Seamless integration with Mac OS X

A few words about the hardware

A big part of the experience is of course defined by the hardware. The Nexus 4 is a very powerful but elegant phone, and I have found myself truly enjoying the big 4.7″ screen. Surfing the web and reading articles definitely feels less cramped, but I couldn’t imagine going any bigger, at least on a day-to-day phone. The camera on the Nexus 4 is OK, clearly better than the iPhone 3G but worse than the iPhone 4.