One solution (at least to some of the problems) is to use third party ROMs - there are plenty of them out there for every phone, made by people who know this st

One solution (at least to some of the problems) is to use third party ROMs - there are plenty of them out there for every phone, made by people who know this stuff better than the manufacturers themselves. Support them and use their versions of Android - latest versions, fast, sleek, free to modify however you wish - what's not to love? I have my old Droid and I won't upgrade until it's dead - it's running CyanogenMod (Gingerbread), has a wicked custom home screen, it's overclocked, undervolted, can run OnLive games, Angry Space Birds :-), One Piece for GameBoy Advance (loved that game on my GB!), Skype on 3G, and a s*it ton more... I'll get a Droid 3 when I upgrade, as well - I feel crippled without a dedicated keyboard... I see smartphones (and laptops, tablets) as simple platforms to customize to your liking - obviously, networks would have a problem with that if everyone thought that way, but it's the best way...