These two desirable features, email verification and minimal friction are not incompatible. It is possible to allow a user to login right away and verify email

These two desirable features, email verification and minimal friction are not incompatible. It is possible to allow a user to login right away and verify email in parallel. It could also be possible to ask the user to double check the email if the email validation failed. It could also be possible to force a delayed email validation. The later might be required for user who porvided a fake address when just testing the service or want to make sure they wont be spammed by the site owner. A reminder with a "don't show me again" check box would address these cases and everybody would be happy.