Android shouldn't be considered Open Source anymore, since source code is published in batches and only part of the system is open, with more and more apps going behind the Google ecosystem itself.
Maybe it's time for a third large phone OS, whether it comes from China getting fed up with the US and Google's shenanigans (Huawei has HarmonyOS but it's not open) or some "GNU/Linux" touch version that has a serious ecosystem. Especially when more and more apps and services are "mobile-first" or "mobile-only" like banking.
Did you use GrapheneOS with the Play Services? Sounds like you didn't. Of course if you don't use the Play Services, you lose... the Play Services. But GrapheneOS allows you to run them in the sandbox.
> Throw in how Google starting with Android 16 is not releasing updated drivers with AOSP and Graphene probably doesn't have much life left in it, either.
This sounds incorrect. Google decided to stop sending the device tree of the Pixel devices in AOSP. And GrapheneOS is still fine, though it will take more effort because they won't get the device tree from Google.