I really enjoy getting your perspective on cryptos. I will do my best to comment and share my knowledge.

I'm personally not a big fan of ETH, if you are to research the technicals of an alt I would look into EOS which is a more foundational version of what Steem was built on.

Disclaimer; I'm somewhat invested in EOS, but mainly in BTC and STEEM. 

   The core difference between EOS and ETH is that ETH use a gas model for capacity allocation (like Bitcoin fees) while EOS uses an ownership model where for example ownership of 1% of the tokens would equal 1% of the network capacity. There are other major difference in terms of governance and capacity coming from the use of Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) vs POW.
Given there are already 100s of working apps built on top of the Steem blockchain (almost a new one everyday) I have no doubt that a similar technology built from the ground up with governance, scalability and generalization will thrive with web developers building apps that see mainstream usage.

I believe ETH is fundamentally broken, not a single meaningful working dApp yet build on it apart from ERC20 contracts (ICO tokens) but ETH benefit from having a huge network effect / hype.  That's why I'm so torn between investing in STEEM or EOS because given Steem current rate of ecosystem development and it's social nature it could grow a very powerful network effect while EOS will EVENTUALLY have better tech. (launch of network in about 8 months).

He're one of the first video explaining EOS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUZWZj1pu94