zlacker

I've used many smartphones and never registered any of them.

When I say register, I meant sign up for the wireless service. I did not already have an account. I was on my wifi and browsed to the wireless provider to activate my sim card and get a phone number. I could have done this on my PC but doing that on my cell verified with the vendor that my phone was supported since I am using an off-brand device. It was easier to copy the IMEI that way.

For Googles app store I used a throw away Gmail address that is not used anywhere else. I would love to put a new image on the phone but AFAIK there are no custom roms for my make/model of device. I would love to install GrapheneOS but they have sadly limited device support to Pixel. I am learning more about using adb since this is my first smart phone and with time I will neuter Google without replacing the rom, hopefully. It's mostly harmless for now since I rarely have the phone on.

>>LinuxB+(OP)
Fine, that all makes sense. As I posted elsewhere here, the problem of getting replacement ROMs is considerably harder than it was a few years back. I now go to considerable lengths to check if a suitable ROM is available before I buy a phone. I also don't buy one when first released, I want to see how a ROM market develops or if it's well supported. It's also a reason for keeping old phones or getting friends and relatives to give me their old ones, chances are they're easier to root/re-ROM.