Linux has been fine as a desktop since i386 days.

GrapheneOS is very easy and smooth, but only works on Pixel hardware. LineageOS is more rough around the edges and considerably less secure.

Yes. It’s called custom ROMs.

I do not call it side-loading. Two of my tablets don’t have any Google on it. The phone is running Play Services in a sandbox, as one of several options to get software.

I recommend you look into them, no matter what happens.

I use a hardware TAN generator which I could use with any browser. I use my banking app (which works on LineageOS so will presumably work on GrapheneOS) just to generate TAN for authentication. My banking cards support NFC.

Use alternative ROMs while that’s still an option.

GrapheneOS is a lot more smoother experience than LineageOS.

You can use a MiFi router with tablet and a dumbphone just for calls.

I have been using custom ROMs since CyanogenMod and am currently mostly on GrapheneOS, some of it entirely Google-free.

You need military type pants. I have no issues with phone sizes, I can fit four bottles of beer in my pants leaving the hands free to carry something when going down the stairs.

In Germany they won’t cut off your Internet connection. They’ll send you a cease and desist for a few thousand euros.

Thanks, it is enough for me.

Yes, when I buy books on Amazon it’s the dead tree kind.

Yes, KOReader and Librera FD are two applications I use currently.

I’m limiting myself to only open source applications on the tablets. Strictly nothing from Play Store or Aurora.

No, you could never buy books on Amazon, only rent them. Calibre with DeDRM plugin was a poor way to liberate them, given that formatting in libre formats was often worse than the original.

I stopped doing that and ingnored the Kindle ecosystem in general. I tried a Kobe reader with .epub books from diverse sources but I mostly use tablets (LineageOS and GrapheneOS) to consume content these days. The reader apps are not that great there, sadly.

Just use NFS then.

I run stock, because it’s my work phone. LineageOS would be an option, but I prefer GrapheneOS, which currently limits me to Pixels.

While I use Vanadium, it doesn’t support the basic Firefox plugins.