to be frank i dont know where android lacks but here is real time comparison of my friends L9 and my N900.

LG L9 is 1ghz dual core with 1gb ram running 4.1 stock.
my N900 was 500-900mhz clocked with 256Mb ram.

my friend asked me to drop mine and go for a L9.. but i said maemo is better than android and thats where the fight started..

first v started to open apps and check the response rate.. v opened apps like conversations music player gallery etc.. (N900 won in number of locations.. My image gallery was quick compared to his.. when i asked him to show our fb msges he went to the fb messenger.. i just opened it in the conversations in a sec.. ).. apps opening was almost the same rate compared to L9.

a tie b/w L9 and N900

next thing v tried the multi tasking stuff.. v opened almost 25 apps.. he fainted when i asked him to go to the media player.. i just went in a sec whereas he was still searching for it..
the place where i felt miserable was he just used kill all to kill apps.. while i was closing apps one by one..
his L9 had only 100mb free whereas i still had 30% free ram..

end result tie
(i hate to admit that.. killing all apps killed the end result too.)
EDIT: his phone slowed down(the response rate slowed down) but this beast kept things going at the same rate.. tks to cssu and thumb team..

next v ckecked video playback speed.. i used OMP and he used MX.. shocking thing was N900 played videos very fast(like moving to next video was quick compared to his..)

N900 won

next v checked browser.. N900 didnt handle(it handled well but not as good as L9) heavy web pages effciently..
L9 won

next were shortcuts.. tks to my powerful qwerty N900 won hands down..

my camera performed excellently well.. N900 has shutter key.. he lacked that.. picture quality was superb compared to L9.. (PS: when u switch off show preview of image in N900's camera u ll experience faster performing camera.. )

N900 won..

N900 had additional IR port camera shitter qwerty and solid speakers..

places where N900 won were multi tasking,camera quality,camera shutter key,qwerty,auido quality,video playback speed and some additional support like IR port,game gripper psp joystick etc

place where L9 won were camera speed,browser, video playback(1080p) and closing all apps(killing all at once) and opening app speed(my camera app was slower compared to his)
and apps..

android may be stronger than todays maemo.. but Maemo is THE BEST for me..

EDIT: from my second N900

This is mad to compare a 4year old hw with a patched 4year old sw to newer Android devices, just annoyed how Nokia treated n9xx

this comparison was basically to tell how far N900 stands today.. when u compare N900 to a newer android it will atleast give a good fight.. but when u compare an android GB with JB it will not even have a chance.. N900 might be old specs wise but its still rocking in s/w side tks to the great work by the communuty..

after a few months with the nexus 4. I don't hate the multitasking, it's just I simply prefer being in charge of what stays open and what stays closed, and that's not always clear. Also I ****ing hate wakelocks

So I'm at 6 months now with the Note 2. Things have improved a bit as I've gotten more used to the system and found work arounds for some of the things that I couldn't get used to. Chief among them was finding a couple of good keyboards (I'm primarily using Kii for Swype like functionality plus the ability to add in a dedicated number row, and Hacker's for the traditional layout and the ability to use kb shortcuts). With Kii I can be quicker at typing out certain types of messages than I would have been on either the N800 or the N900 with a dedicated keyboard...but the downside is that it is easier to make mistakes and miss them when the keyboard chooses a wrong word. But still, having a good keyboard means I can actually use the device for more than a few minutes without getting the urge to throw it against the nearest wall.

I also like having access to the apps. In general I'm not a big fan of apps, especially the ones that could work just as well as a webpage on any system...but there's no denying that there are a lot of apps out there that can be really useful.

That being said, it has bee n6 months and I still haven't really adapted to the UI. The screen size is both larger than it needs to be,and not large enough. Too large in that it isn't that comfortable to hold securely, and while it fits in my jeans pocket fine, it isn't as comfortable there as my N800 was (which is basically the same size, just not quite as wide). But it is too small because UI elements in Android are generally really large, so it's hard to make intelligent use of the screen space. Trying to type an email in landscape means that I can only see 1 or two lines of text, because the rest of the chrome takes up all the remaining space.

Most amazing to me though is how I haven't gotten used to app switching yet. Bringing up all running apps on both the N800 and N900 became second nature in a matter of days. My boss just bought a Z10, and even though I've only used it for a few minutes helping him setup some things, I've already started trying to use the same gestures on my Note 2. By contrast, none of the ways that I can get to the recent apps screen have become ingrained in memory yet (this is more a Samsung problem for not providing a dedicated key, than an Android problem), but even when I do get to the list of "recent apps" finding the one I'm looking for almost always involves searching through a long list of apps that I'd only briefly opened to check something, but then stay in the list unless I manually dismiss them.

I used the N800 for a bit yesterday to play some music from my NAS, and it was such a comfortable experience even though I hadn't really used it in a few months.

I use Kii Keyboard (Premium) and Apex Launcher (PRO).

I'm jealous of the NOTE 2, but still happy with my larger NOTE (its got bigger bezels).

I disagree with the UX. I'm running Villain ROM, which is sort of like an AOSP ROM running on a TouchWizz kernel. The benefits of this is having Multi-Window, AirSwipe, S NOTE features (even the Samsung Market is a good addition). Also the Camera doesn't suck.

I've made the UX to what I prefer, and have grown accustomed to it.
It's not as basic as iOS, and not as cluttered as BBX... its a nice balance (though not perfect I say).

I agree the whole "multitasking" is ....shite.
Its not multitasking at all, its only a list of Recently used Apps. I agree the list is sometimes too long, not on my Villain ROM though. However, the thing that sucks is that if you're in an App (eg DrawFree), and you exit the App to check a Widget on your homescreen. When you return to the App (DrawFree), the App restarts itself. It was "savestate" but causes a refresh ---and this ordeal is found on several/many Apps.

It simply sucks.
And sometimes the Recents List is not long. And when you tap on an App you haven't used quite recently... it coldboots that App. If it needed restarting... Why The Frick Was It On The List in the first place ?!?!?!

Paranoid Android has a good implementation coming in a shortwhile, but it too is flawed. Its intrusive, selective for only a few apps, and while its great that it stops Apps from restarting... it doesn't really "multitask" them.

The only thing that really multitasks in Android seems to be the MultiWindow from Samsung (which has no AOSP alternative) and Floating Apps... which are obtrusive and don't really solve the question at hand.

I have a feeling the next Android 4.3 or 5.0 might bring some true multitasking to the table (by that I mean fix the flawed Recents List).

I've used windows for 15 years, mac for 5 and am using them simultaneously. I do understand basic programming, used a bit of linux. I've taken apart PCs and macbook pros to fix them - I practically troubleshoot computers for relatives and friends.

I've owned an android tablet for half a year, sold it, and am troubleshooting android phones for my mum, relatives, friends since honeycomb days.

I love mac. I love PC. I love iOS. I'm cool with linux. But guess what. I really really dread androids.

I know, people do have differing tastes, but the android UI, to me, is terrible. It's very reminiscent of Nokia OS, pre-touchscreen era. And c'mon, do android fans feel proud when they see someone shopping for phone and they see the home screen on the demo android set swirl into a globe and unswirl itself when it reaches the next screen?

I also don't like the way extra options or settings are laid out. There seems to be no concept of what are the more-used options and what are the lesser used ones. Almost nothing feels like they are a couple of taps away and you're always forced to change settings whenever you download something new. In short, the design of individual apps feels extremely scattered and disorganized. Also, there IS the serious issue of android fragmentation when manufacturers all decide to add flavor to their OS. Isn't it frustrating when you get a new phone, you open a link and it asks if you would like to use the Samsung browser or Browser? Or when an android buddy asks you for help and you can't actually guide him because your phones are from different manufacturers? Setting up an android to one's liking is extremely tedious, even with google accounts.

I hear many complaints that the stock keyboard stinks or why isn't there battery percentage visible. Yes, you can install new keyboards (so can you, on Cydia FYI, but hardly anyone does that) and install tweaks. But why are these basic things omitted in the first place? Why are the keyboards so broken on so many different models? How can keyboards be broken? The phone is useless without the keyboard! Shouldn't most keyboards on different phones be pleasing out of the box? How can so many different companies fail? Why do you have to have a S3 phone and go meh, I'm gonna install my swiftkeys and then THAT dictionary? And oh, sorry, this battery percentage tweak can only be installed on a rooted phone.

My iPhones are all jailbroken. I do lots of things using my iPhone. I'm not talking about font or color scheme tweaks. Yes of course Cydia offers that as well, on top of functionality (rotation, lockscreen, weather, etc) tweaks. I use my iPhone for VPN access, I use it to hook up to my car OBD2 without buying a $150 wifi dongle and a lot more.

To jailbreak virgins, I can only say it's like Google search. One search box, and that's it. If you want to tweak battery colours or fonts or whatever, simply type in, "battery". In contrast, android users often have to scour forums, subforums, praying for some genius to be using the same phone as them so that patches, custom ROMs and what-not might be available for them.

I do understand that some people need the screen estate. That, is perfectly fine with me. Androids have their tegra, snapdragon and more, but how many people out there actually know how much of the processor they utilize? Slow? Everything is slow after you've used your phone for a while.

I guess the selling point of androids is that they come in all shapes and sizes and price-points, but would I be wrong to say that androids are the broth with too many cooks, far, far, too many cooks?

So another update. Broke the screen on my Note 2 (from what should have been a harmless <3ft fall onto a wood floor). Had to send it back to Samsung for repair and was without it for a couple of weeks. Once again I pulled out the N800 to serve as a trusty stand-in. And once again I was reminded at just how much I like Maemo. Certain things didn't work at first...but once they did the experience was so much more comfortable than Android. Everything just seems to be in the right place and things like app switching feel natural.

I got the Note 2 back yesterday. Completely reset to factory standards, all my data had been backed up, but as far as I know there isn't an easy way to back up all the settings for all of your various apps, so I'm trying to do it manually again. Spent most of the afternoon installing apps and trying to reset things, and I'm nowhere close to where I was (which itself was only good enough that I no longer wanted to throw it at the wall every time I picked it up).

I'm starting to think that I'm just not going to come around to Android's way of thinking. Here's hoping that by the time I'm ready to upgrade there will be something worth upgrading to.

I only recently bought my first Android phone, an HTC One. Prior to this purchase, I've had jailbroken iPhones, an N900, an N9, a BB Z10, and a bunch of other, earlier feature phones. I have my One tweaked and modded with custom everything (all free/donation based from XDA): firmware, hboot, OS/ROM, kernel, recovery, etc., so I may not be an average user, but to the people on this forum, I did what you would probably do with a flagship Android device.

I sincerely miss the multitasking advantage of Maemo and Meego. I still use my N9 a lot, so I agree that Android lacks there. Also as far as UX/UI, I think that Android needs to figure out how to avoid using the upper screen edge as a touch target in single handed use. My 4.7 inch screen makes using this area a challenge, and something like a Sailfish-type pulley menu is badly needed to avoid hand shuffling when touching or swiping down from the top.

But as for most of the problems listed in the thread, I guess that Google has figured it out by now and/or that they mostly apply to those with older devices (I'm glad to have missed those days). My One doesn't slow down, it's the best looking, best display, best sounding, fastest phone I've ever had. The app quality and diversity are tremendous. Apple and Google are absolutely dominating the competition here, and it cannot be mentioned enough. The Android development community, like here, is amazing. There are a lot of people working on Android's stuff, and the update pace and quality is insane.

So here's hoping that all the bugs and limitations get worked out, but I, for one, feel spoiled by all the great tech we get to use and play with.

I agree, I find when I try and pull down from the top using my thumb the moment I release it rolls up again and I end up having to do the gesture two handed to make it work. Jolla's pulley menu is a great idea.