I would say that Ethereum is the smart contract platform, but that Ether (ETH) is a currency. That's based both on how it's used, and on how the protocol separates normal transactions from smart contract interactions (including token transfers).

I like the fungibility that Monero offers (making it similar to cash), but I just can't wrap my head around Ripple. I always associated cryptocurrencies with decentralized and trustless (at least at its core), neither of which seem to apply to Ripple. I would have preferred a "trusted party" system on top of a decentralized one to get higher transaction speeds, e.g. when the stakes/amounts are low.