| Realistically any brand can be okay as long as a) you don't get the short straw of QC [1], and b) you know what you're getting into (and why). When it comes to phones, the only "true" manufacturer that is repairable and open is fairphone - and they too got mired in controversy over their last phone [2] With that said, truth is a lot of these cos like locking down their phones, and if you're looking for a Libre-free experience, I'd recommend a Pixel. I myself use a Pixel 5 (it was the last flagship Pixel with an off the shelf chip... Tensor has tons of bugs apparently). The 5a is also out and fairly similar. My second choice would be Xiaomi, but specifically either their Mi flagships (where there's almost no cost cutting), or Redmi which are very budget and also value for money. I'd highly recommend flashing the Mi-EU ROM if you can, and custom ROMs are fortunately fairly common. Avoid the A series for weird bugs. Beyond this unfortunately it gets tougher. Older OnePlus were decent but recent phones aren't. Samsungs can be fantastic if you're cool with an ecosystem that's nearly as locked in as Apple's with nowhere as much of adoption. (Quick edit addition - for laptops Framework is decent but I'd honestly recommend spinning up a cyberdeck/an Intel NUC with a type C powerbank, portable monitor and BT mouse/Keyboard. Not convenient, sure, but unlikely to fail and easy to fix if failed. Commerical laptops that don't have shitty hinges? Maybe ThinkPads, perhaps Dell Latitude and perhaps Panasonic Toughbooks. HP ProBooks can be okay but HP can burn in hell for all I care. I legitimately hate them more than Apple (which isn't an easy task), but that story's for another day.) If you want to continue this conversation please let me know, I'd recommend another platform (for ease of typing/messaging). 1 - apparently Lenovo at one point realized it was cheaper to RMA ThinkPads than to QC them (as per what I read on r/Thinkpad). What fun (if it's actual, which, given Lenovo, is quite probable). 2 - because they dropped the headphone jack conveniently as the released wireless earbuds. Yes, waterproof headphone jacks are a thing even on budget phones like the 2015 Moto G3 (~$300?) |