PostmarketOS. It has its flaws but it is reliable and very versatile. If more people would adapt it, I bet the flaws would be gone soon as well.

In stark contrast to graphene and other android derivatives, this is actual linux (alpine), not degoogled android.

Mobian/Droidian is also worth looking into and of course Ubuntu Touch.

This community isn’t about Android ROMs though.

I’m on LineageOS since 2016, something may have changed but I usually look up their supported hardware and pick a phone based on that. You may have to look at something relatively recent or you could end up meeting the end of their official support, which then goes into some les reliable unofficial support by random people you can find mostly on XDA.

Personally I’m looking next to a second hand Pixel, mostly out of curiosity.

Edit: forgot to address the “why”: to keep in touch with society without letting strangers access to my stuff.

I’m using Ubuntu Touch on my Pixel 3A XL.

Sony Xperia 1 II, 1III and AFAIK 1 V all do LinrageOS and are flagship phones albeit expensive out of pocket and up front.

I have mixed feels about Sony but for the Interim it’s a worthy “for right now” solution with a good camera.

PinePhone was interesting for its time but underpowered and quality could be improved on.

Librem5 is pretty decent if you measure it by Phone and SMS capabilities, those apps are okayish and it has easily pullable battery and premium aluminum side casing. But don’t expect to use a web browser on it and unoptimized apps will be slow but the camera is decent. 2008-2012 much better than pinephone camera by a lot, not flagship or even 2nd grade. This is also due to the software just “not being there” yet across the board.

At this point I am pretty much done with phones. Maybe I will use SXMO on Librem5 or something to do the basics.

I don’t think we should have phones. We should have Communicators.

Phone and SMS can be legacy and die off I just want a 5-8" device that can do Matrix and Video call and tie into StarLink Sattelite and Cell Tower and AFAIK StarLink is deploying 4G in the near future which opens up the possibility for reusing existing tech as the 4G waveband is miles whereas the 5G waveband is only optimally like 300 ft and can’t penetrate glass very well due to the wave.

In any case I think there will be significant innovation in the Linux Phone space in the next year or so for Techie Pioneers to get on board.

PostmarketOS is worth a watch too, lots of hard working people out there scratching a itch and breaking down barriers.

I’m using Graphene. The Pixel requirement I believe is due to the Titan chip: https://security.googleblog.com/2021/10/pixel-6-setting-new-standard-for-mobile.html?m=1.

https://divestos.org/ has caught my eye. When I last installed Grapheme, you had to install eSIMs using the factory ROM then install Graphene. Divest I guess had support without Google services. I think Grapheme does now also, but before I get my next phone I’ll weigh it as an option.

I’ve used pretty much anything. pmOS, Droidian, Kupfer, Manjaro, Mobian. Usually in duaoboot with LineageOS on my Oneplus 6