Preface: I am far from an apple person. Android phone(pixel), chromebook, linux desktop. But your airpods are flawed. I use airpods daily and I've never had complaints. A bunch of co-workers use them and there's never issues.

I am assuming you are using Airpod with an Android phone. Is there any drawback of this? Any feature that works only with iPhone?

I've had volume issues with the AirPods on my android (Pixel 2). They were so quiet that I could barely hear anything at full volume over normal street noise walking around in the city. I ended up selling them. This was over a year ago so maybe things are better now somehow.

They also apparently pair/connect way more seamlessly with an iphone but I didn't have any major issues with this.

I think there may be something wrong with them.

As far as I can tell, my AirPods are the best sounding voice conference headset I have. Well, a few things work well when I'm in my office with the door closed... but the AirPods are the only thing I use anywhere else. I work remotely and it comes up often.

If possible, I'd try to get them replaced. If the next pair has the same issues, then I guess it's something about your situation after all, but I think it's worth a try.

Yes. I own them. It’s not good. In fact most people say my MacBook Pro built-in mic sounds better.