Didn’t believe them then, don’t believe them now.

RIP Nova.

I definitely can’t speak about general consensus, but that’s what stopped me using it.

The Pixel ‘a’ line of phones has always been my go to - able to be unlocked/rooted easily, decent cameras, reasonably priced (7a starts $500 at the moment, and 6a is $350 new), although I have heard that the 6a and 7a using Google’s processors can really kill your battery life.

I’m writing this from a 5a that I have been quite happy with myself, but it’s getting a bit older now, so you might now want to go that many generations back.

I’m looking out for the new 8a, might be my next phone, not sure yet.

It might be related to Samsung pushing apps/updates to your phone. I’ve seen them do similar on a galaxy tab before as well.

https://www.androidsage.com/2021/04/03/samsung-silently-installing-bloatware-apps-via-software-updates/