It's quite subjective actually, Coming from an iphone user, you don't play around with the rom actually. You Jailbreak and you install all those whacky customizations; Practically you can customize plenty of things. Screw up? just restore. There are tonnes of customizations out there. & yes you can run multiple software simultaneously, and you can do what others can do, IF you JAILBREAK. This is somewhat same as you try to root your android.

To me both device would win on it's own turf and no doubt, this would be a long debate and die hard fan boys would pour out all their might. Here's my view on android. Android is great on social networking. It can link all the famous social network and integrate with the system backbone. You don't need to fiddle or update your phone book details. If someone from your facebook updates his phone number, you will get the update instantaneously. It's like a genie working in the background while you enjoying the services. This main thing which iphone doesn't offer.

I would rate the google offerings good on andriod. Till today, I still yearn streetview to be utilized on other platform. It's exclusive on android. HTC sense widget is a great tool on customizing all the necessary widget and lets you view and update you with short precise information, without the need of reading long boring news. Mail is well presented. As found in HTC sense, brief emails particualar can be viewed from the widget without the need on launching the mail apps. What android lacks is eyecandy and at some point you would find the icons are somewhat old school, just like those 256 color in windows 95. Apps wise, there is no doubt apple rein champ. BUT, counting by the offerings and the amount of free apps available, the future is bright on android and it wouldn't be long to find the andriod market to be the champ.

Finally, I would say, both are equally good phones. Android offers variety of hardware platform, that means you will never get bored with the same design. Also some models come with physical qwerty. Good if you do not wish to leave plenty of smudges on your beloved screen. Last not least, there what andriod wins over iphone is widgets. you get tonnes of widget to move about. On a JB iphone, those widget are somewhat not that eyecatching but nevertheless it's presentable.