android still lags on lower hardware,that still hasnt changed
even the battery life is still bad
my friends S5 lags like a gif image,im a consumer i dont care if its touchwiz,sense UI etc i just know android isnt working properly on some expensive handsets and loads of mid and low range handsets
Samsung has been giving Android a bad name in the industry for quite some time but judging an operating system by just one OEM, is not logical.
In the Windows Phone industry, say if I had bought an HTC 8S or Huawei Windows Phone just an year ago or a Lumia 810 and they lost support I could go rage on the internet and say "WP SUCKS!!!!"
But there are replacements in the market, the Lumia range is getting some pretty amazing support.
Similarly while some Android OEMs may not give updates, there is a solution. Motorola's low end devices have been getting pretty good updates, and with the Android ONE program launching soon it'll get better.
If you're friend's Galaxy S5 lags, he has replacements for example the HTC One, LG G3, Nexus 5 or a Motorola X. All of those devices are similarly priced, very fluid, etc.
As far as the low end side goes, go and watch Pocketnow's(one of your favorite reviewers) Moto G or E review, or Android Authority's speed tests. Those devices display that Android doesn't need beastly specifications to run like a BOSS.
Battery life is a subjective matter, it is hardware dependent and software as well. Many of the reviewers that(even those that are biased) agree that the records for the best battery lives usually go to Android handsets(not all of them, but specifc ones).
There are Windows Phones out there that people say have bad battery lives, Lumia 930 is an example.
All OSes copy each other, agreed, but android copies more as compared to any other OS. say if iOS /windows copies 1 or 2 features(they are not of android), then Android copies 10 to 20 features which are from iOS/windows. Reason? Its an open source OS & a child's play to jailbreak it. Also different companies give different features & many of them don't mind copying iOS/Windows(that doesn't mean now Android looks like iOS or Windows). Hence they don't even mind if their phone looks like an iPhone. You have got so many updates from alpha to kit Kat, still android lags. My friends note 3 lags. Android is a power hungry OS, all the budget phones with lower processors lag & all the high end phones are the ones that do not lag(sometimes). Windows / iOS is not a power hungry OS, it runs smoothly on single /dual core processors. I have my old Lumia 710, which has only 1.4 GHz single core processor, still it runs buttery smooth(even when it had 1mb memory remaining it didn't lag) That's certainly not the case with android. Android phones are also not the most sturdy ones, but Nokia phones surely are. Android just has apps/games etc, but as an OS it lags. It lacks quality like ios/Windows. Android is surely a more power hungry OS as compared to iOS /windows. IPhones have the best touch response, Android comes last with windows on 2nd spot. Network data usage is maximum in Android, minimum in windows. There are many aspects where Android lags behind windows /iOS, which many people ignore
While I have countless times agreed that Android has copied features here and there. Most experts would disagree with you, Android has possibly copied the least compared to other operating systems around.
I can't believe people on the WPcentral forum who have no idea at all about what open source means and it's advantages and disadvantages.
Android being open source is one of the biggest benefits of the operating system, many of Android's innovations have come from what people had made in Custom ROMs.
You need to educate yourself on the definition of open source, the definition of rooting and jail breaking:
Rooting & Jailbreaking: Explained!:
http://youtu.be/uO0Q7SMZvfg
Do you know what you can do if you root an Android device today? Over clock it, you can record the screen directly from the phone, improve battery life or performance by miles, get the latest version of Android, massive camera and/or video improvements, etc.
Being open source many of the features you see today in either iOS and Windows Phone originated from either Google itself, or those that rooted and made tweaks for Android devices.
Being open source does *NOT* mean that it makes it easier for Android to copy features, being open source and allowing modifications to be made is what makes Android the source of the most innovation in the tech industry.
I mean did you know where did the double tap to wake option came from? ROOT(custom ROMs to be more exact). And Nokia/Windows Phone found it pretty easy to copy that. Or maybe Android's sharing options? Windows Phone had no problem copying that. Or...copying notification centres with power toggles and swipeable notifciations...or battery stats and data/WIFI stats...or what about casting screens...tap to beam via NFC...multi volume control(media, ringtone, alarm)...what about storage stats, should I really go on?
While I could sit and argue with a knowledgeable iOS user all day(and I have) he could come up with some pretty good things that Apple made.
But I honestly don't see the argument that Windows Phone fans have, Windows Phone was launched many years later after Android and iOS, I mean they practically had to learn from mistakes of Android and iOS to be successful(which they still aren't) and obviously copied a lot of stuff(more than you can possibly imagine).
Maybe a Symbian user could even argue, but Windows Phone has brought very little to the table that it can call innovative.
Lag is a matter of how you see it. Android runs just as smoothly, in some aspects even smoother than Windows Phone if you have the latest iteration.
I agree that Samsung TouchWiz is very laggy, on low end and high end devices but you can't judge all Android devices based one a few OEMs that refuse that improve performance in their skins.
I had a single core 600 MHz 512 MB ram device called the HTC Explorer(Pico). Due to Android being open, it is still getting unofficial updates via Custom ROMs. I ran android 4.4 on it, and the 512 MB RAM optimization Google talks about it very real!
In fact I can confidentially say that my single core device running KitKat multitasking faster than my dual core Lumia 520 running Windows Phone 8.
Android isn't laggy, not is it incomplete. It's one of the most polished and fluid, and the most functional OS out there. And Android L is also putting it in a whole new level of sophistication, performance and beauty.
The Moto X, G and E also do an amazing job at showing off that you don't need to pay a premium price to get great performance in a great overall package.
You can't judge all Android devices nor all Nokia devices for being sturdy. My Lumia 520 had quite a bit of dents and scratches despite being in a cover for most of the time.
I'm sure that Nokia had devices in the past that we're sturdy, but that doesn't mean all of them are. One of my friends dropped his 720 from pocket height and the screen straight up shattered, the same happened to my friend with a 920. I could even ask them for the photos if you want.
Durability also varies from phone to phone, but since Android is so versatile the "records" for strongest smart phones would probably be...Android.
You should search up the Kiocera Brigadier if durability is your main concern.
That's what Android is so special for, you need a phone of any specific type, you'll probably always find one tailored better towards your needs. I mean we even have waterproof devices!
As far as touch response times go, iOS was the king there for some time but it was bested by the Android One M8. Windows Phone was never at the top, nor is today. Here is a small speed/touch responsiveness test between Android and Windows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkokodBl9jQ
Data usage depends purely on how you use your data, it has very little to do with OS. Android has certain mechanisms put in place to help you conserve data better.
Oh and did you know about the data usage stats? Which Windows Phone shamelessly copied.
Maybe there are things which Windows Phone does better than Android, every OS has something great about it.
However having used both Android and Windows Phone for quite a bit of time I can say that most of the issues you have pointed out in your post hold no real truth behind them.