SGS2 appalling? Whatever do you mean? I love the AMOLED screen, better than any LCD screen HTC has to offer IMO. I don't see what you don't like about it.
Buttoning? There's 3 buttons at the button instead of four, so, big deal?
Touchwiz - for the record, I've played around with a Desire S, and well, I prefer TW over Sense.
Industrial design - what? It looks simple enough
Basically everything you mentioned does not make SGS2 or anything Samsung makes as bad, instead they just go against your preferences. Seems like the perfect device for you would be an SGS2 (killer internal hardware) running and HTC Sense ROM. LOL.
In analogy, its like you're saying Mexican food is crap because its spicy and you hate spicy food, while others can't understand when they find spicy food to their liking.