For five years now I have been using the very small sony xperia mini with cyanogenmod 10 and microG, but it is getting a bit old and there are too many useful apps now that need something newer than Android 4.1. The OS has been very stable. Yes, you can put newer custom ROM’s on that device, but it is from 2011 and is starting to run out of power to run things in 2021.
I ordered a modern, small smartphone, the Palm Pepito PVG100e with 3.3" screen. Slightly bigger than the xperia mini, but thinner. It has a horrible UI, actually, this guy aired his discontent and it basically sums it up:
Here is the XDA thread:
I think people have managed to root it, but there is no confirmed, functioning de-googled OS for it, and I do not want to tinker with it until there is a proven and tested ROM for it.
If anyone from the e foundation is interested in working with it, I am more than happy to post it to you, would be great if it could get your de-googled rom (and lose that stupid experimental UI…) It seems to be a nice handset, probably with good hardware. I can’t see myself really using it much with its current OS. Would be interested to hear from the developers if the hardware lends itself to ROM development.
It is definitely big enough for my needs - have been using something smaller for years and size is not the issue, it’s aging hardware…