Which is unfortunate, because one of the strengths of Android was the diversity of the hardware ecosystem (although that strength has been lessening as manufacturers have all begun to converge on a common set of hardware features). You could get a phone that had the features you in particular wanted. Needing to buy a particular phone to get a good experience is a bummer.
I say that as someone who has had several Pixel phones (and Nexus before that) and been happy with them. But yeah, my most recent phone is a low-end Motorola that I picked specifically for a set of hardware features, but unfortunately, as the parent commenter describes, it has been a _terrible_ experience for a variety of reasons. I got the hardware features I wanted (mostly, no one makes the full set I want anymore, see above), and it turns out that I had to give up a halfway-decent software experience.
I was hoping over time the hardware beginning to get more similar would make the hardware more standardised and open like it is on PC allowing easier rom development, but that seems to be a pipe dream.
I say that as someone who has had several Pixel phones (and Nexus before that) and been happy with them. But yeah, my most recent phone is a low-end Motorola that I picked specifically for a set of hardware features, but unfortunately, as the parent commenter describes, it has been a _terrible_ experience for a variety of reasons. I got the hardware features I wanted (mostly, no one makes the full set I want anymore, see above), and it turns out that I had to give up a halfway-decent software experience.