I would use more Google apps on my phone if they behaved like normal apps from other developers. My biggest gripe with them is that they force you to sign into your Google account at the operating system level (which I refuse to do) and then proceed to slurp up all your data.
Why do I need to give Google basically root access to my entire Android phone just to use the Google Search app? Why can't I sign into just that app?
Other apps like Amazon, Bing, and even Facebook work just fine without needing to be signed in at the operating system level. There is no excuse for Google to require so much system access for apps that clearly don't need it.
If we saw more Android phones being sold without Google Play Services I bet this problem would go away pretty quickly.
As much as I dislike China at least Android phones sold there don't have all this Google crapware preinstalled. Although knowing China they probably have something much worse.