[Unreasonable expectations and little knowledge or inclination to try things out] Please don't read the previous bracketed sentence as snarky or insulting - it reflects the fact that he bought an unlocked phone and expected it to work great out of box with T-Mobile (including WiFi calling!) and he wasn't inclined to search the Play Store for TMobile Voicemail - so there is definitely substance to that sentence. But I merely wanted to point out that he is a user who is perfect fit for iOS/iPhone design goals. And not all people fall into that bucket. And neither should simplicity at all costs be a universal design goal for every product. Obviously if he is inflexibly tuned to the iOS way of doing things it's no wonder he's going to have issues with anything else.
1) Two Apps / Choosing Apps - This is why many people prefer Android over iOS. If you are bugged by it - select the one you like and choose "Always" the next time. Done. (If you are a UI designer at least shed some light on what is the way to do a better UX on this feature - simply saying you don't know which one to pick is not really adding any value. You have to try Hangouts, Gallery, Photos and then choose them as "Always" - that's the idea and I find it as intuitive as it can be.)
2) Hardware differentiation - yeah just install a launcher once and be done with it - oh you will have to choose the default once after you install it, but yeah after that it's even easier. Oh and Google autocompletes HTC disable blinkfeed - first result tells you how in two steps.
3) Fine print of an unlocked Android phone - he is troubled because WiFi calling isn't available on _all_ Android phones whether or not the carrier is T-Mobile - and if it was there he would be sure to complain about what's that WiFi calling thing that I don't understand on my Verizon HTC One. Hardly a UI problem and since it requires special firmware support it's hardly fair to have everyone put it in.
4) Unlocking - it's a HTC thing. Stock Android and even Samsung phones just swipe and unlock - plus you can thank slide to unlock patent for some of the differentiation there.
5) Back button - as much as inconsistent it is, having it still beats not having it altogether. But yes it can be a little annoying at times.
6) Navigation bar - he complains about there being differences in Samsung and HTC phones! I can't figure out why that is relevant as his target audience generally will stick to one phone.
7) He even complains about the Notification bar! (For crying out loud everyone pretty much copies this from Android - including iOS!) "I clear my notifications periodically, but inevitably a pile of tiny incomprehensible turds appear at the top of my screen, uglifying it to no end." Ugh, what? Does iOS magically know which ones you like and shows only those?
8) Copy/Paste - this is one point I agree with him on. It just isn't as elegant as iOS and neither is it consistent.
But I stopped reading past that - too much personal preference stuff rather than valid points and being on a "User Experience Designer"'s blog I thought there would be insights on doing this right - I only saw "iOS is right" in some places.