But AMP pages are often worse - things like getting cut-down pages with the normal navigation missing or stuff like that. And it breaks URL sharing - if I want to share a link, I just want the regular link, not one with AMP crap in it, but often cutting out the AMP part to try and reconstruct the original URL just doesn't work...
So I've never found it better but only worse, so understandably it just annoys me. If it is just that my tracking and ad blocking is making all the difference, then AMP clearly isn't actually solving the actual issue...
If it did not do that I could care less.
And here lies the problem. Eventually, these two 'annoyances' will become much bigger than that. The biggest threat, imo, is that these will lead to news organization, journalists, and credible publishers to eventually close up shop as they receive less of the share of revenues.
I do agree with your point about AMP sites generally being a much smoother experience. But at what cost?
I never understood why AMP gets so much hatred from end-users. I understand why publisher hate it (it takes away control), and I understand the monopoly concerns, but for me, as an end-user, 99% of the times, the AMP version is better: faster, with less of the annoyances you described. As for privacy, these 99% are loaded with Google ads and analytics anyways, so not much of a win there. I don't know what your configuration is, what kind of ad-blockers you are using, but I never met the horrors people make AMP to be.
And sure enough, there are sites that are better than any AMP sites, but these almost never have an AMP version. So for me, AMP makes terrible sites a little less terrible, and good sites unchanged.