Probably the bloated software, and for some maybe the screen. Otherwise it has some good specs! Quite simular to the A52s, which is a much appreciated midranger!
I have the previous version. Going on 3-4 ears now.
It is good.
Great even, assuming your camera requirements aren't super high.
The programmable buttons are so excellent and I wish that was a more prevalent feature.
You want an Xperia. No removable battery (there are almost no "normal" phones with removable batteries) and instead of a popup camera you get a regular front camera in a tiny bezel (so assuming you don't want a stupid hole/notch in the display that's what you want). But they are overall solid phones with excellent DACs and very clean Android. And it's still a mainstream, non-Chinese brand.
The only disadvantage is price, but they target a niche audience. If you can take a deal with headphones or such it's very much worth it.
Yup. Removable batteries are more rare in flagships than headphone jacks. Currently rocking a Zenfone 6, my next one will be an Xperia - as long as they don't mess it up by removing one of the critical features. (I'm still salty about the removal of the notification led.)
Can confirm: I've been loving my Xperia since I got it a few months ago.
The other con you didn't mention is availability. I'm in the Eastern US, drove around to several different stores and couldn't find anywhere that carried it. Eventually had to order online and have it shipped, which I normally don't like to do for something this expensive.
The pop-up camera was mostly a "fad" of 2019, also without the removable battery requirements you could add the Zenfone 6 to the list if you include the inception year of 2019.
Very few phones had pop up camera I belive. So that itself narrows down your list. Add removable battery to it, even fewer. 3.5 mm jack, even tinier. SD card slot, maybe you can count on one hand.
My Asus Zenfone 8 has a 3.5mm audio jack. I believe the Zenfone 9 & 10 do as well. No removable battery or memory card slot but should be dual sim. My Zenfone 8 even has FM radio LOL.
The Motorola G73 scores two out of 3 with a headphone jack and SD card slot, but it doesn't have an easily replacable battery or popup camera. The Fairphone has a replacable battery and SD slot, but no headphone jack.
Just embrace the external DACs. It allows you to upgrade your audio experience anytime, unlike with the jack where the DAC in your phone may be pretty eh at times
I have been using the Apple USB-C DAC ever since both my Poco F1's and my Ideapad's jack died, and enjoyed the significant upgrade the DAC brought to the sound quality.
My device, Poco F2 Pro has all that aside the SD slot... It is a very solid phone though.
Currently using a CLO ROM called Neoteric (based in Paranoid Android I guess) but all AOSP ROMs are pretty fast, I just seek for the better battery backup.
Has the pop up camera (has that ever been a thing?) You would probably have to go back a decade. I may remember Motorola tried to bring back easy battery replacement (where you just kept a spare battery with you and just popped it in when the phone died) but it didn't last long. There is another phone that is still out I believe that you can replace different modules of the phone but I don't believe it's for convenience. The phone is geared more user repair and modifying the phone.
Try the Samsung XCover 6 Pro. Ignore the criticisms of it not supporting 5G on T-Mobile networks since I use Metro PCS that piggybacks off of it and it runs just fine. Other than its rather large screen size, it feels like one of the earlier Android phones with a removable battery, expandable SD port, and the all important audio jack. It's rather sad as consumers that one of the few models out there that have these features comes from a business phone line.
Oppo Reno 2. Has everything you asked except for the removable battery. My aunt's been using for 4 years and the cameras are really good.
Cons are: EOL, it's pretty old and has ColorOS if you do mind.
So yeah, I am getting a f**ed up Pixel 7pro, replace the screen, ignore the stupid glass back (that is of course broken) and enjoy some years of peace with GrapheneOS. No headphone jack, no hardware switches, and very expensive replacement parts.