Not a big deal for me as I customize every phone that I own anyway, so for me I'm just using Lawnchair and that works perfectly for me even on this phone so I don't see an issue with it.

Not /e/OS user, but it is Android - just degoogled. Uses microG as a replacement for Google services if I'm not mistaken.

As for apps, I recommend checking out an app called Plexus on Fdroid - it's an app where people report how apps work on alternative ROMs with either microG or fully degoogled. It's pretty neat.

Fairphone 6

My bank app will install, but I can't login unless I also install Google Play Services. The website works fine without.

No issues with other apps. I do prioritise installing from F-Droid whenever possible.

I have eOS on the fairphone 5, and I have had zero problems with banking apps and the like.

That doesn't mean you won't have problems though, I don't use many of those kinds of apps other than a bank authentication app, and a few others for public transit tickets, etc. I also live in europe, milage may vary elsewhere.

Keep in mind that eOS IS android, just with google telemetry removed. You can add a google account if you want/need to, at which point any android app should work as expected. That of course defeats the purpose somewhat, but even then eOS will still help you stay as private as possible by informing you about app trackers and using alternative services for location, etc.

My bank app worked. I was very happy about it. My metro pass app also installed without issue and transferred my pass. Even government apps worked. Microg is useful for sure.

Like Android you mean?

Would a phone have that many downsides? I would think that a computer would have much more. Maybe the phone companies don't play nice? I 100% don't know what the downsides would be.

What's your work? 

It wasn't a hardware preference, it was a privacy and control preference. Samsung is a data miner. I absolutely hate being locked out of my own shit. It doesn't belong to you, but you're renting their device and paying with data. I can see the calls home on my monitoring software, and now they have that MS linking SW that you can't remove. I hate Samsung. Also, my S25 Ultra broke twice and I only got about 2 weeks use out of it total. Once, fell out of my pocket on carpet. Last, off coffee table and into floor. Those things are expensive and extremely fragile now.

Fairphone is honestly not a bad switch. It's smaller than a flagship Samsung screen, but as ethically sourced as possible, modular so repairs are easy, open source software, privacy focused, has an ecosystem curated with care, and you can sideload all you want. I think I pay like $25 or $45 a month for unlimited everything with hotspot through the provider that supports it in the US. Also, there is no bloatware. It's the absolute minimum needed for them to be a marketable solution in my opinion. My battery has never died in 4 months. Sometimes it uses less than 10% a day. Samsung was a nightmare constantly draining. I could go on and on.

Edit: Had S22 Ultra for 3 years before trying the dog shit S25. It took a beating, didn't have MS link SW, but that is the device I used while developing better habits like deleting Facebook and beginning degoogling efforts. I never saw Samsung show fragility before 2025. Had several Samsungs before then too.