Here's the deal.
iOS is locked to a select few pieces of hardware, so as with the OS X line, Apple dont have to support as many platforms - that much we can both agree on.
The Android development team EOL'd 2.3 - so nobody should be making handsets that use it anymore.
Google has also stopped issuing GAPPS licenses to any developer still using 2.3.
Obviously you will always get cheap nockoff phones that will use low powered hardware, and try and cram Android onto it - they will perform terribly.
Now, if we look at "new Android", it's designed for higher end phones, so the likes of the S3, the Nexus 4, and the upcoming 'X' phone.
The idea is that yes, whilst older android builds tend to be badly fragmented and slow (due to crippled hardware), this is being resolved by only allowing GAPPS licensing on high-end hardware that is capable of running Android 4.x
So yes. Android in its newer form does "just work" and "just works" pretty damn well.
Maybe its not for you - that's fine. But the pathetic "its android, its ****, its slow, its a ripoff" comments are being made by 14 year olds without a clue. As someone who uses both iOS and Android on a daily basis for development, I feel I've got a slightly better view of both operating systems than someone who's spent 99% of their smartphone time on an iPhone.
Having used both operating systems both are good, and both have problems. Neither one of them comes across as being a stand out winner, but with the likes of the S3 on Android 4.x, it is actually a faster, and more accessible phone than the iPhone.
I'm not going to take idiotic "fandroid" or "fanboy" views here, and I'm certainly not going to give childish people the satisfaction of a pointless debate - I'm just talking from my own personal opinion having spent a hell of a lot of time using BOTH operating systems.
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In my opinion, 4.x is a better OS right now when compared to iOS6. This is based on extensive use of both operating systems. Not a quick look at a review and a 'mate told me it was crap' type of comments from people I dont know.