So, I just learned about this the very, very hard way.
After buying a second hand S10 and finding american ones can't be unlocked, traveling 4 hours to buy another one after much research, much annoyances to unlock it (samsung requires you to be online, which I didn't know) and testing multiple ROMs, I finally read this page more properly https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/beyond1lte/ which says "known quirks: IMS". I thought it was just something like dolby sound.
What it means is that it doesn't suport VoLTE and most currently used phone systems. Samsung made their proprietary mess, unlike most other developers, which means it will probably never have an open source version.
And that applies to ALL modern samsung phones. I had samsung phone before with a custom OS, but didn't realize because VoLTE wasn't mandatory back then. Now it is here in Australia, and many countries. So if you ever plan to buy a samsung phone to degoogle it, know that it won't make phone calls. SMS and mobile data also doesn't work.
I don't know how I missed this. It should be talked more often given how popular samsung is. There should always be a warning "YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE PHONE CALLS IN THE FUTURE IF YOU CONTINUE".
S10 was the last decent phone ever made (for me). Not too big, SD card, headphone jack (one of the most important things for me), good camera, etc, etc... That's why I was so persistent to find one to degoogle.
So I'm stuck with my amazingly shitty pixel 5 (and other ones are even worse for me). And considering the possibility of a life without smartphones at all, since this is a losing battle. Mainstream doesn't care and evil companies have every incentive to kill freedom. It has been getting really bad and it will just get worse. But anyway... this post is not about this.
Be warned, if you care about freedom don't ever buy samsung again. Not because they are evil (they are), but because you won't be able to make phone calls on your "phone".
It's very, very expensive for what it is. But I guess I just meant "mainstream" androids.
Going on alternative land there are options, like I used to have a phone with sailfishOS. But they will never have the adoption of mainstream phones, and it will probably be less and less with time as google tries to make people's life harder. And that means they will never have the same finance and support.
It's nice to support those companies, but like I said, I think it's a lost battle and I probably should focus my energies on learning to not rely on smartphones. Then it doesn't matter what feature apple or google remove, it won't affect me.
The trouble in Australia with the Fairphone models is that some/all networks are blocking them due to a perceived/actual risk they may not work reliably on Australian networks, and Fairphone has not done what the networks demand for that approval. (There's a heightened risk-aversion here at the moment due to a few highly-publicised emergency-call routing/connection/fallback failures).
It's a work in progress though, and it should work already/eventually:
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/3g-network-closure-australia/109696
I bought a fairphone 3 last year for £100 with e/os pre installed which works fine for me. I changed to the Lime booter for a better interface. It's not very fast if you want to game & the speaker isn't very good, but otherwise does all the basics I need or find handy asides from internet banking. Could be good if you want a basic smart phone for occasional use?
It will be pretty hard to find around here. But yeah, I'm considering. That and Jolla and dumbphones.
The issue is; they will die. Someone will try in their place, and then die too. There will always be rebellion, but always crushed by the empire (and lack of financial support).
I may find something usable now, but I have no guarantee that next phone will be. I often lose phones, and every time it's being a harder and harder battle to find a replacement.
The only safe way, considering that things are just getting worse, is to learn to not need smartphones.