[General Questions and Answers] AlgebraicMirror:
Ironically enough, I prefer Android because it is the only smartphone OS that follows the Windows model. People forget, but Microsoft OS's were not the first for personal computers. Apple was actually several years ahead of the game. The reason IBM PCs and DOS/Windows took over the world is because they allowed you to run any hardware and software you wanted, which quickly led to huge amounts of choices for both platforms.

Fast forward to smartphones. Apple, in typical Apple form, launches a totally locked down, walled garden phone. Zero customization of hardware (can't even add a memory card or replace the battery), zero root/admin access to the OS, zero ability to run iOS on non-Apple hardware, and zero ability to really change anything at all about the OS.

One would have hoped that Microsoft would have come onto the scene and in typical Microsoft fashion started releasing an OS that:

Can be installed onto any existing phone provided the drivers for the phone are in the huge Windows driver store.

Allows users to be admins if they want, giving them the ability to change system files and otherwise tweak the OS as needed.

Allows you to upgrade whenever a new version of Windows Phone comes out, in the same way I can upgrade my PC whenever a new version of Windows comes out (I don't have to wait 12 months for manufacturuer "support").

Allows you to install the OS onto any phone regardless of age, as long as the hardware is capable of supporting it (so if I want to use a 4 year old phone I can, even if the hardware manufacturer doesn't go past 2 years).

Allowed hardware venders huge flexibility to create compatible hardware and drivers for Windows Phone OS.

Allows user to be admin if they want (yes, I know I'm repeating this), so that they can uninstall ANY application they want, and are not forced to endure manufacturer installed bloatware. Remember PC bloatware? You could uninstall that. Not so Samsung or Sprint phone bloatware, for example, because they are considered "system" software. That Sprint NASCAR app? Yep, can't uninstall completely without root, because it's "essential". LOL.

Instead, Microsoft has completely lost their way and abandoned every principle that made Windows so successful in the first place. Now they are just copying Apple, with walled garden, closed systems like the Surface Tablet and Nokia phones that won't let you expand storage, change batteries, install new versions of the OS when you want, run as admin, uninstall bloatware, etc.

So ironically, Android, despite its faults, such as not allowing root/admin access to everyone, is nevertheless wiping the floor in marketshare, because it is following most of the original Microsoft principles of open systems rather than walled gardens. It allows for massive hardware variety, the OS is open enough that you can customize it and throw different mods onto phones, you can gain root access and you can uninstall bloatware too :). So in my opinion, Android is the better platform by far, because it's following the Microsoft way. (And if you look at the market share of phones, Samsung, which follows the Microsoft way with hardware by allowing SD cards and battery replacements, is also by far the most successful. It pays to be flexible and open).

One other note: Android is the only platform where you can run a phone for four years and still have basically the latest and greatest. I'm rocking a Samsung Galaxy S2 with Android 4.4.4 Kitkat because I can install CyanogenMod onto my phone, even though Samsung abandoned the phone after two years. That's not going to happen with Windows Phone. The manufacturer will abandon you after two years, and you won't be able to install the new version of Windows Phone onto your hardware, even if your hardware is fast enough. That's another point in favor of Android.