I definitely agree that there is a bit of a learning curve to Angular. A big pivot for people who are used to version 1.
The thing I like the most is how they are pushing the framework to reduce the footprint. In the upcoming version (4) they have made even more progress on this. There are also plans to introduce the Closure compiler in the build chain, which will lead to further optimizations.
It's unfortunate that the JS framework debate is so biased and subjective. I personally like to play around with several of the frameworks. My conclusion is that all the major players are of comparable quality (Angular, React, Aurelia etc). I think it really comes down to how you use the framework, rather than which one you end up with.