IMO the two systems do not work in reverse of each other, at all.
You DO NOT have to go into the app drawer to get into your apps on android IF they are on one of your home screens. As an example, on an android device if you do not keep the clock app on a home screen and want to access it later then go into the app drawer. On iOS for iPhone there is nothing you can do with the clock app other than put it in a folder, but it will always be a part of one of your home screens, along with other apps you rarely use, as there is nothing you can do with them, per se. Not sure what's being done in the reverse here.
Onto the widgets. iOS' attempt at widgets are not nearly to the same scale of what android widgets are. Android widgets are interactive, customizable, and can be placed anywhere. No pull down required. I don't see anything being done in the reverse here either.
Android provides customization when it comes to home screens and iOS does not. Or it can be said that iOS is very limited with how you can customize its screens. Widgets, I just do not think is a contest between the two operating systems, even if done in a different fashion. Perhaps Apple will expand the capabilities of what they call "widgets" but as of now it's not something that can be compared to the android experience.
You are right on the money.
I think that iOS when it came out, was brilliant. But at one time, Windows 3.11 was considered cutting edge, compared to DOS.
Technology and how people interact with their phones, has changed, dramatically.
Widgets and real time info of things as they happen, is common. Apple took a crack at it and it is better than nothing, but it is not in the ballpark of Android. Is it usable? Sure! Is it as good as it COULD be?
Not even close.
Apple tries too hard to make things "*****-proof", but if taken too far, you actually make it harder to use.
Case in point.
I have a large PDF file, it is a shop manual for one of my ATV's. I want a copy on my iPad or phone, not in the cloud, because I could be on a trip somewhere and need it and might not have a cell signal in the woods...
On an Android or Windows device, you just plug it into a PC, it pops up like a thumb drive, I drag it to the device and it copies. That's it. I have a file manager on the device, just like you do on a PC or Mac, and I click the icon, grab the file and the first time I try to open it, it asks me which app I prefer to use to read the file and presents me with a list. I select my preferred app and it will remember that.
From now on, all I have to do is click the PDF file and it just launches it with the app that I told it to. One click, simple.
On iDevices if you don't wan to use the cloud... I can't just drag and drop a PDF to the device. I have to install an app and mess around with it in iTunes to get it to copy it over.
Then I need an app to simulate a file manager to go and find that file. When I click on the file, it only lets me select the default app that Apple in all their wisdom decided that I should use because as a 43 year old tech savvy guy, I can't have that kind of power and freedom. LOL
Ok, so it launches with that app. But there is a problem! The default app can only access a 50mb file, and my file is 75mb!
So after telling me it cannot open with that, it THEN lets me pick another app to open it with, and it copies the file over to that and finally lets me open it.
Here is the catch. I now have two copies of that file taking up space on my device. The Default app has a copy in its sandbox, and my preferred app has one.
But wait, there's more! Next time I want to access that file, I have to go through the whole process again... open the pseudo file manager app, find it, select it, have it open in the default app, have it fail, and then have it allow me to select which app I want and then and only then can I open my damned file.
On what planet is that considered "user friendly"? That is a horrible user experience by any measure and if I have to jump through that many hoops every time I want to open s stupid PDF, how the hell is my mom gonna figure it out? LOL
The fact that there is no user file system, for me to just save email attachments(other than pics) to a "My Stuff" or "My Downloads" folder that I can just go to and access later, or easily attach a saved file to an email, like every other platform on the planet allows, is another crazy limitation that doesn't need to be there.
Long time Apple fans just accept it as "what it is", because most of them don't know that there is a better way. They have lived with those limitations and molded their usage patterns around them. They don't know what they don't know, in many cases...
Coming from Android though, where a simplified user experience is common, with a much more streamlined way of dong things, and many of them "just work" out of the box, is an eye opener.
Like others have said, most of these things "can" be done on an iDevice, but more often than not it is through apps, work-arounds, cloud services and extra steps... It's not nearly as intuitive as many Apple fans like to claim.
The Apple hardware, TOP NOTCH. And iOS does have some cool elements. But side by side, measured against the features, the polish and the overall ease of use, mixed with more power and customization... iOS is an antiquated platform in many ways compared to Android. Google is pushing the envelope, and Apple is playing catch up.
Google is now the world's most valuable company. Android is installed on more devices that ANY OS in the world. That includes the PC and server markets. It is the most installed OS of any kind, that the world has ever seen, and their stock price has doubled while Apple's is half of what it used to be.
This isn't a bash on Apple, as you know, I am now running both an iPad and an iPhone... But it is what it is...
Both are great products, but Android clearly has a lot of advantages...