That's quite weird since my family has now had 3 android phones and they all require drop down menu to connect. Sony Xperia refused to mount at all without installing the software.
Well, there's sony for you. They're the only tech company with worse intentions for their customers than Apple. My computer has been "rooted" exactly once in the last 15 years, and it was by Sony. And when they got caught, nobody went to jail. Putting sony software in your computer is like having sex with the same hooker who gave your buddy aids... You'll get exactly what you'd expect to get from that transaction.
That said, I have an iphone 4S and like it a lot. I expect to use it until it dies because it already does more than I need it for. I did make the mistake of installing iOS 6 but I expect that to get sorted out in a month or two.