It's almost surreal, but reading posts and comments around the net in relation to Android 3, and most authors and users seem to be pretty impressed with it -- even the admitted iOS fans.

It seems that the Mateus Duarte acquisition is paying off. It was clear in his Engadget interview that his focus was on interaction quality rather than simply aesthetics, and there seem to be resounding comments that Android 3 is simple, elegant, fun and easy to use.

But the major point of distinction between Android and iOS seems to be the complexity; a point I would have to agree with. The new innovative functionality of the bottom bar is very nice, and the homescreen is very nice, but adds a touch more complexity to the overall system which is simply not available on the iPad. I feel a simpler home-screen and a slightly customized bottom dock could improve usability tremendously for the masses. Perhaps forward-thinking carriers will choose to customize along these lines. For example, I would enlarge and include more intuitive icons on the lower dock and put the app launcher shortcut down there as well.

Still, the system looks like it wouldn't take long to figure out for a mildly diligent soul, and the new enhancements provide heaps of new and useful functionality simply not present in iOS. The classic feature/simplicity tradeoff.

The release apps themselves are brilliantly intuitive, and the action-bar provides a very nice and unified location for context-sensitive operations. In this usability area, Android more than competes with iOS, IMNSHO it out-paces it.

An individual demoing Android to Laptopmag said that Android 3 was the future of Android in general. If true, Android will be the OS to beat on many, many fronts.

C'mon Sammy... Get. On. It.