Best in terms of what exactly? Baseline snarkiness?
Most customers don't know, much less care about, the exact version number of their phone's operating system. They care about what the operating system can do for them. But I suppose if Gruber were to compare the actual capabilities of currently available Android systems vs. iOS 4, he would have much less to be snarky about on Apple's behalf.
2.2 is basically 2.1 with some performance enhancements and a few features sprinkled in here and there. A better question is how many are shipping with >= 2.1?
An even better questions is... who cares? I have an N1 with 2.2 on it. I was happy with it with 2.1 on it. I'm slightly happier with 2.2 on it. I know people with Droids with whatever is on it, and they're happy with it. I know people with Droid Incredibles, and they're happy with what's on that.
Why do you assume that the average smartphone user is always chasing the most recent version of software that may or may not be available for their particular handset? It's all just hypocritical argumentation. On one hand we have the people who say "well you can install CyanogenMod on it" get shot down by others who say "your average user won't install CM," while these same "others" claim that the average user actually gives a damn that they don't have 2.2 yet. I don't think they do. And I think minority who actually does will be informed enough to decide if they want to take the leap and install CM. Probably most won't, but that's their choice.
Let me rephrase that, since you appear to have entirely missed the point of my post. It doesn't matter that Android 2.2 isn't out yet, because Android 2.1 still compares favorably to iOS 4.
Were you asking similar questions the month before iOS4 shipped? Why do you care so much about "now"? The number of Android 2.2 phones being announced recently is astounding but they're not releasing them all together on Apple's yearly iPhone schedule just to make comparison shopping (or pointless internet arguments) easier.
Here are the things I use regularly that iOS doesn't/probably-will-never have.
- Free turn by turn navigation that's better than any dedicated gps device.
- Wifi or bluetooth tethering. I recently was travelling with my girlfriend, and we both could access the internet on our laptops routed over WiFi through my phone. The hotel even had free wifi, but it was easier to not bother with figuring out how to set that up, and just use my phone.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Jailbreak!
Other than the turn by turn every other feature you said is available with jail broken ios. So you get the best of both worlds: slick usabe interface and powerful features.
I honestly don't know why more people don't jailbreak their iPhones.
One of the reasons I don't usually keep mine jailbroken is that it becomes very annoying to upgrade. It's jailbroken right now, but the tethering is basically the only thing I miss when it's not, and that, only very occasionally.
You had to replace the defaults because they don't work well. Android can't even play a damn wav file without downloading an app. iOS4 has the capability to lock portrait mode. I never once wanted to use my iphone or nexus one as a mass storage device.
The point is, I can replace the defaults, and because of the way actions work, the are proper replacements that integrate with other applications.
It isn't about using the phone as a mass storage device, dummy! It's about being able to e.g. add and remove music, movies, photos etc. to and from the device and a network location, over the air, without ever having to plug into another computer.
Most customers don't know, much less care about, the exact version number of their phone's operating system. They care about what the operating system can do for them. But I suppose if Gruber were to compare the actual capabilities of currently available Android systems vs. iOS 4, he would have much less to be snarky about on Apple's behalf.