fairphone support for pmOS is improving. What DE were you using? It was probably just slow on the pinephone.

librem 5 is also an option. It is sorta expensive and weak but is the most capable.

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices

right now im on calyxos but development has been paused for like a year

It was a long time ago, so I don't remember. Phosh or Plasma. I tried to like Sxmo, but it was really unintuitive, unlike tiling WMs on Linux.

Fairphones seems OK, although for €549 I'll probably stick to a dumb phone and invest in a better laptop for now. I'm not saying it's too expensive for what it is, though - it's still a tiny computer with all kinds of periphery.

I just wish there was a version with a shitty camera for €50 less or with no Bluetooth for €10 less - you get the idea.

Interestingly, when I went to

https://www.fairphone.com/shop-home

the prices for the headphones were lower for a few seconds and got higher afterwards.

€186.75 -> €249

€74.25 -> €99

while the phone price remained the same. Both are increases of 33.(3)%. Probably a script that determined my location and added a VAT.