Do spinner-based date pickers on iOS & Android detract from the user’s experience?

Generally speaking, the rule of thumb on mobile devices is to follow the platform conventions, and that native controls are almost always better than custom UIs. However, I'm at a loss as to whether the spinner-based date pickets which are core UI elements on iOS and Android are really the best experience for the user in most cases.

As a user myself, I find these interfaces to be helpful when they're replacing plain text input -- e.g., if I know the date that I want to set. For instance, if asked for my birthday, this is the easiest interface to pick it. However, in cases where context matters -- like when I want to set a bill to pay 'next Friday' in my mobile banking app -- I don't believe this is an appropriate interface. In my opinion, this sort of exploratory/contextual situation typifies most date-based inputs that I encounter on my mobile device, so I do question the appropriateness of the native UI elements overall.

Here's a custom interface example from the Kayak app which is more effective than the native date picker, given the context:

Has there been any user research into the effectiveness these UI elements? Is there an argument for using these controls (even if they're not perfect in a given situation) due to platform consistency?