They said less open.

You can rank how smelly two turds are compared to each other, but if you must live with one, which are you going to choose?

Honestly, I rate "open" less and less as time goes on. It's a fine principle, but there are other valuable principles (like minimal advertising and tracking, and quality of finish and performance).

I think that the ethics and ill-effects of Meta, Google and the like are significantly worse than locked software ecosystems. Once you've decided that, then you don't want a smartphone at all.

If I had to get a smartphone, I would get an Apple.

Given how many people go to all this hassle for "openness" in their mobile software ecosystem and then install Whatsapp/Gmail/Instagram etc - what is the point?