I think you'll find Android 2.2+ to be a very, very different experience from 1.6 - Google has really worked out many of the silly problems that you mentioned (that certainly plagued early versions of the platform, I agree) .
I prefer iOS, but I have android phones (G1 and Aria). The difference between 1.6 and 2.2 is huge. Bigger difference than iOS has seen (though iOS 5 is close)
I installed 2.1 in the last few months before giving up, battery improved but the rest didn't change. I've seen much better devices on 2.2+ (Atrix/Galaxy S/Defy) for sure, but I'm already a lost customer. The only system I'm willing to give a chance in the future is WebOS.