As an example of a different frontend, have you tried "jujutso" [1]? Every time I ended seeing a comment about git vs Hg usability I am reminded of it. It uses git in the backend but its workflow/frontend seems streamlined.
Jujutsu is a Git-compatible DVCS. It combines features from Git (data model, speed), Mercurial (anonymous branching, simple CLI free from "the index", revsets, powerful history-rewriting), and Pijul/Darcs (first-class conflicts), with features not found in most of them (working-copy-as-a-commit, undo functionality, automatic rebase, safe replication via rsync, Dropbox, or distributed file system).
