Echoing what you're saying, on my Nexus S, Chrome is unbearably slow.
I would bet that the majority of Android smartphones -- the ones that aren't the marquee, top-of-the-line products -- all have a similar quality of experience with Chrome.
In a few years when Moore's Law catches up to the lower end of Android phones, that won't be an issue, but right now I think we're still in a transition period.
I'm pretty happy with Chrome on my Nexus 4. Only on this phone do I feel like performance is close to where it needs to be. Nexus One, S, and Galaxy have all been a little sluggish for their contemporary OS. iOS has always been tweaked for its devices to deliver responsive performance, even if it wasn't fast.
Chrome is only available on ICS and higher, so that's not such a big deal. Phones of the nexus S vintage and power levels mostly run gingerbread anyway. (One could argue that the S should not have been upgraded at all, but realistically Google had to do it to appear credible on upgrade issues).
I would bet that the majority of Android smartphones -- the ones that aren't the marquee, top-of-the-line products -- all have a similar quality of experience with Chrome.
In a few years when Moore's Law catches up to the lower end of Android phones, that won't be an issue, but right now I think we're still in a transition period.