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.
I am considering the Jolla phone. It looks like it fits the bill. Personally I have two issues. One is that stuff like banking and Danish id services probably won’t work because they’re bound to Google Play device integrity. The other big one is that my Google Pixel 7 pro still works fine, so there’s no pressing need to upgrade.
Is Graphene OS not an Option for you? Just asking, because you already own a Pixel phone.
Not sure. For the same reason. If I install Graphene and the play integrity check fails, then I lose access to these services. And I’m a bit of a coward in that regard.
I don’t think you’re cowardly. Rather that Google makes it as inconvenient as possible to not use their intrusive services. My (only non-FOSS) banking app luckily works on my custom ROM and sometimes I forget hat might not be the case for some.