Android doesn't demo as well as iOS.
Picking up an iPhone, you almost by accident press one of the buttons. It lights up, providing you with a slider already aching to be pulled over. The screen opens to rows of colorful buttons, with a little dock on the bottom with (duh) the phone and iPod functions seated right where you'd expect them. You click on the icon, and it the apps pop open. You want to change a setting (any setting), head to the Settings app. (Duh.) There is only one mail app; there will only ever be one mail app. Ditto for the web browser. This set up is nearly ideal for a busy shop, with people lined up out the door, packed around the few demo devices. Within 60 seconds, anyone even vaguely familiar with computers or consumer electronic devices should basically hit the bottom of the iPhone UI--exploring most possible interactions.
The Android phones, in contrast, are a bit more cryptic. Hit the trackball on a locked screen, and it does nothing. Likewise, the home, back, menu and search buttons are inert. (What?) For someone causal, that's enough to stop the deal right there. Only hitting the "turn me off" button gets the screen to light up. Rather than a ghost leading the way, a teeny arrow suggest you pull the lock to the side. The screen that shows after the unlock is surprisingly blank. You have to explore a bit to find out what the device can do. Opening up the apps reveals a (seemingly endless) array of programs. Open one, and things start to feel similar to Apple's product. Where things diverge, where Android has the depth that iOS can never have, is when your finger lays on an item for a bit, and you realize there is a context menu that pops up. Or, you start playing with the menu button, and realize that the settings for the app are in the app itself--ready to be dynamically changed without taking a break from what you're doing. Hitting the bottom of the Android UI, finding the maximum possible level of interaction, takes hours, if not days.
Well-written apps (and there are quite a few) take advantage of this depth, and resultantly are more useful and complete than their iOS counterparts. Tasks that take endless drilling down menus in iOS are accomplished by quickly entering a context menu in Android. Want to refresh your current webpage? Don't try to hit a teeny target with your fat finger; open the menu and select refresh. (iOS is full of teeny targets for fat fingers.) The former is seemingly simpler; the latter is faster and ultimately cleaner in use.
I'm still digging around Android, but the (slight) increase in complexity yields significant gains in practical use.
