I agree with you, but for me, Dall·E 2 feels good because 90% of the time I can keep hitting the generate button and massage the prompt until I get something inspirational, surprisingly, or visually pleasing. Without access to Imagen, it's impossible for me to compare how much of the "realistic feels" of its images is constrained by the taste of the cherry-pickers.

I've started to ask myself if my own creativity is a result of random sampling from the diffusion tapestry of associated memories and experience on that topic.