As a long time iPhone fan I can for the first time see myself considering an android phone. I trust google will do a far better job of delivering a quality product that will be properly supported throughout it's lifetime.
Perhaps they can finally give us an Android hardware standard where audio I/O latency irregularities doesn't make the platform nearly useless for low-latency audio applications.
The example of the cell phone patent is weird though... it was filed in 1975. How does that give an advantage?
Not sure if it is already possible, but they should make it so that everybody can create skins for Android (some API extension, whatever). Then those annoying handset maker skins could just be optional plugins to Android that you could switch off the minute after buying the device.
The skins are basically just the Launcher app, and that can be easily replaced as it is.
Some of the skins also dig deeper and modify the way standard UI elements are rendered. Granted, that doesn't make as big of a difference as running a custom launcher, but it can make certain launcher widgets look ugly, have unexpected layout problems for certain apps, etc.
Many of the skins go deeper than that. You get different UI in some of the core applications.
I hope they don't standardise screens - one of the great things about Android is that people aren't locked into just one form factor.