TL:DR; should be close to AOSP, under 15k, should be root-able, no Unisoc or Exynos processor, chipset must be released in 2023, but okay with 2022 stuff as well, priority to Qualcomm over Mediatek.

The screen glue for my realme 5 Pro came off, and the ribbon cable snapped. Replacing the screen costs about ₹6-7k, which is ridiculous for a phone that is five years old, given that the phone was about ₹16k when I bought it. I would’ve used this phone for two more years, the battery is just fine, it charges quickly, and everything is snappy about it.

Yes, the screen is available for cheap online (~₹1k for fake, ~₹3k for the original screen, plus the screen glue), but I am not really confident about performing a successful repair. Also, I don’t have a drier or a heat gun, so there is no way to access the back panel, which is how I’m supposed to disassemble.

I’m forced to use a spare Redmi 9A, which is a very laggy phone. It’s horrible for day to day usage, the phone heats a lot and the cache is so low that when I lock the screen, I lose everything I was working on. The UI is terrible too, and unlike the realme 5 pro, I can’t root this device to install a custom ROM.

I wish I didn’t have to contribute to another e-waste, but I’m planning to buy a device under 15k. But this time, I want something that comes with a modern processor (2023 release, also open to 2022 stuff if there are no choices). I don’t want any Unisoc or Exynos stuff. I want to prioritise Qualcomm over Mediatek.

And I want the vanilla ROM to be as close to AOSP. I don’t care about 5g, but since modern processors come with 5g enabled, I have no choice to avoid it.

I was looking under Moto and Nokia, but their devices have some really outdated processors or used Unisoc. Any other recommendations? I’ve not checked out on other brand that use close-to-vanilla-AOSP ROM and is easily root-able. I don’t care about games. I’m a power user, and I want the flexibility to use hardened alternative mobile OS in the future like Graphene or postMarket OS.