'Vanilla' android? The 'app management system' (how you start apps) is a lot like iOS, the basic GUI reminds me of a good Linux window manager - like maybe a slightly old version of Gnome. The basic icon designs are better than iOS, IMO.
At the end of the day, there's only so many ways you can do 'arrange icons on a screen so you can touch them to start things' and 'have a window that displays data covering a larger area than is visible on the screen'. Unless you do something like windows 7 and the rotating tile effect, which TBH I just thought was being different for the sake of it, or possibly only to avoid being sued.
I prefer Android's notification system to iOS's too. But then I'd prefer just about anything to iOS's notification system, which is [LIFTED].
Jon