Given that you're primarily wanting Google software, what is it about iOS or the iPhone that is keeping you from switching to an Android phone?
* Apple hardware is superior to any of the Nexus phones. Buttons don't rock without triggering action, screens are consistent colors, etc.
* There is a hardware home button that doesn't change locations. This makes it easy to get 'home' from anywhere, and, most importantly, to orient the device by feel in your hand without looking at it.
* The phone in't huge.
* Battery life is better on iOS.
* There is only one email app, not seperate apps for exchange / imap and gmail.
* The quality of apps on iOS is vastly superior to Android. Both in terms of function, but also UI. This is partly because of developers, but also because there isn't the screen size fragmentation issue.
I really want google to succeed with Android. I want someone to make a phone that's better than the iPhone. No one is doing it, yet, though.
The goofy mail experience was a big turn-off for me last time I tried switching to Android.
The quality of apps on iOS is vastly superior to Android.
This might be true on average, but in my case, I only really use a handful of apps with any regularity, and they all seem to be around parity on both platforms.
If you enable IMAP access to your Gmail account, you can use the "email" app to access gmail accounts along with everything else. The Gmail app has a dedicated button for "archive" and it handles labels better, but you don't really need it.
By the way, everything is under one folder, both on IMAP and in the web interface. It's called "All Mail" (Archive)
disclosure: Android user for nearly 3+ years and owns a Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 and a few other Android devices.