Good point. I feel that my jQuery code is getting bloated, when I add more features to a page. Though, I am still a beginner when it comes too angularjs, but I find using controller and services would clean up code by a huge margin.
If your code base is still actively being enhanced or changed, then, yes, Angular is a better design than jQuery. jQuery locks you into the DOM structure, which makes changing the UI or adding features progressively more expensive as the app grows. Angular pretty much solves this problem by decoupling the UI from the code governing the functionality.
Edit:
I can't help but to shameless plug my AngularJS-like frame work, TemplarJS. It does most of the same things but I designed it to have a much flatter learning curve. I wouldn't recommend it for production as it is still a work-in-progress but take a look at it if you get the time.
https://github.com/ShamariFeaster/Templar
This narrative is bullshit because it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, the client doesn't give a fuck if it's written as a CGI perl script, much less if it's between a javascript framework and a library.