stemlluk

Well, the UK store is down for iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPad mini 2 and iPad Air:  "We can't wait to show you what we have in store".   Still showing 6s, mini 4, Air 2 and Pro iPads, all Macs, watches and TV.

Make of that what you will.  For me, I read it as the 5s is gone, 6 dropping to the 5s price and the SE slotting in between the 6 and the 6s with 6s internals.  Then a new 9.7" iPad above the Air2 and the Air2 dropping to the Air pricepoint and the Air disappearing.  Not sure on the minis, maybe just dropping the mini 2.

I don't expect to see anything about Macs or OSX until the WWDC.

In our house, we have two iPhones (a 5 and a 6s), two iPads (a 1 and a 2) and a Nexus 7.  We also have a mix of Windows and OSX PCs.

I have yet to find anything that I cannot do on the Nexus that I can do on the iPads (ignoring things like iOS/OSX synching and so on).  I can run all the apps that I want, play music, watch video, browse the web, write documents and manage my emails.  There a couple of things that the Nexus does (like Dashlane completing passwords) that iOS cannot but nothing that is a deal breaker either way.  Obviously, some people will have specific needs that only one of the platforms will support but they are in the minority, most things are possible on both.

Personally, I prefer iOS but I suspect that that is mostly down to familiarity.  I have had iOS devices for a lot of years and the Nexus for about 6 months.  Had I had Android devices first I expect I's prefer Android.  Switching is as much about how you can handle and accept change and relearning as it is about the quality of the UI.

In all honesty from a UI perspective there is nothing really to choose between them, they go about things in different ways and some will prefer one over the other (as I said above, I personally prefer iOS).  The only reason I can see for the "hatred" you see all over forums is down to some people's need to take sides in an argument just for the sake of taking sides.  I'm also convinced that for some, it's a need to justify the amount of money they have just spent.  Some seem to have an irrational dislike of anything to do with Steve Jobs or his successors while others have an equally irrational distrust of anything related to Google.

The two platforms are not chalk and cheese, they are so close (and getting closer each iteration).  Some of it may come down to how much you perceive your needs for privacy and security and how you see the two platforms in this respect.  I appreciate the importance but I am careful with what I enter and store and where and I couldn't care less that Google knows which sites I've been on and will try to serve me ads based on that.  That is the price of free software and services.