Yast isnt' required, you can use typical configuration options (text files, GUI editors). That said, many things in Yast I actually like. By any chance, were you using Gnome? I'm personally not all that excited about Suse's default Gnome desktop.
and package management / installation was way still slower than with Ubuntu (i.e. minutes to calculate dependencies)
Sounds more like Fedora than Suse in my experience. sudo zypper up is fast. Now, I will admit that DOWNLOADING of packages is slow. This is one of the "immaturities" I meant, it downloads, installs, downloads, installs. It takes forever and fails if your net dies. This IS being corrected in 11.2.
for some things I had to use CNR, and for some reason I also had to use smart as well.
I can't imagine a reason in hell you'd "need" to use those, unless they were the ONLY way to install something. That's a case you'd not find on Suse, and wouldn't be solved by other distros. Unless you're blindly following tutorials... but that's not a "must". zypper has replaced all other package management in Suse. zypper is even modularized and handles the Yast package installation.
I didn't try it for long, and I might not be recalling some things accurately, but what I remember is a general frustration in setting up all the software I typically want on a Linux box
All of the things you listed I've experience with the 10.x line, but not 11.1. With Suse's one-click installs, I can't think of a SIMPLER way. Literally, the OpenSUse website has buttons like "Click to install KDE 4". One click, root or sudo password and it's on it's way. Repos added, refreshed, downloaded and installed.
Don't take this as a bash against Ubuntu. I have been a dpkg fanboy for YEARS and it's still probably the best package manager for any distro that's currently had a stable release. It beats zypper on 11.1 but I think it might equal zypper on 11.2 and surpass it by 12.0.
something which on Ubuntu only requires adding 3-4 repositories and running a batch of apt-get commands.
I should also note that after Karmic, Ubuntu will be re-organizing their repos. Those "main universe multiverse restricted" might require you to be more specific, but the details are still being hammered out. And to REALLY make use of Ubuntu, the PPA repositories are there (Chromium Browser 64-bit, for instance).