Shopping around, seems like every option is doubling down on anti-user garbage… I don’t trust myself to do a root or anything like that - my tech skills are juuust good enough to be painfully aware of my own dumbassery, but I’m doubting an out-of-the-box smartphone that isn’t loaded with shit even exists.
Previously I’ve used Pixel and Galaxy, but those are both chief offenders.
Sony is pretty vanilla android as far as android goes but it is still android. You can disable some stuff with an app like adb app control but it still keeps all the core os level bullshit unless you root to kill it properly.
On one hand, yes. However, they have absimal software support (2 major os updates and little to no updates in between). I’m also now having a problem on my 5V where my device is “uncertified” on the play store. I found that lots are having the same issue while Sony provides no solution at all. I had to root it to fix it.
Weird, I have a 5V too and its been great. I routinely get updates on it as well. What version/region are you on?