You're not the average girl in regards to smartphones and i think you know that, so please don't take offense. And i'm not saying women are dumb... I also said older people wouldn't know what to do with android, but that doesn't make them dumb either. The learning curve is much higher for Android than it is for the iPhone. That's why I'd rec the latter of the two for the average girl/older person. I'd do the same for a guy who didn't know much about tech, but let's be honest... what guy doesn't love tech?
On average, men are far more into tech than girls. Most of my guy friends have already had a couple of smartphones under their belt, while most of my girl friends are perfectly happy rockin dumbphones still (though this will start to balance out). However, some have iPhones. I've had to troubleshoot for those few with Android.
Would you give a 60 year old person an iPhone or Android? It's sort of the same idea. For a first smartphone, I'd recommend iPhone because nothing goes wrong really, it's just simple and executes what it's supposed to do. Android can be overwhelming for many people. It's not nearly as bad as WinMo, but it's still not as easy as iPhone.
Many girls I know have iPods, so they'd already know that aspect of it thanks to iTunes. Girls I know would not know how to put and find music on Android. It's not very user friendly with music. To be honest, I already know their first question would be how to sync iTunes with it. That's just an example. There are other areas that would freak inexperienced users out, like when you plug it in? You get 4 options that briefly stay on the screen. Not to mention all the menus that pop up. For devices without Sense UI, the learning curve is worse. Can they eventually figure it out? Of course, but the learning curve is much higher than on iPhone and ease of use would still be in favor of iPhone after the fact. I mean, it has one button on the front and the main page is just rows of shortcuts... and until recently you couldn't multitask or change wallpaper.... it doesn't get any easier than that! Not to mention iOS is on multiple generations of the iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad.
Android, on the other hand, has so many features and options. Like I said, it can be overwhelming. I'd go all in that my girl friends would choose the iPhone 4 over EVO 4G if they played with both for a day. Ease of use while still having great features would sell them on it. But hey, that's just what I've noticed... so you really can't get mad at me for saying what I've seen
edit: haha, i just remembered you were the one who responded to me when I said girls drop their phones a lot. You're the exception, i swear! Girls DO drop their phones A LOT. Don't resent me, just speakin what I see with my own eyes!
Half the time it's probably because they try to fit them in (sometimes tight) jeans/shorts with tiny pockets and other times they have to pull them out of their bag (i'd hate to see an EVO get scuffed up with all the junk that's in there... camera wouldn't have a chance).