* Kernel, drivers and userland I can compile on my own if I want to
* 4-8 GB RAM
* 4 core Cortex A72 or better wide out-of-order core (no A53, A55 or similar crap, unless it's a big-little configuration)
* Good 64-128 GB low latency high IOPS eMMC. Too many devices penny pinch here creating a slow user experience.
* 4G (600 Mbps+) or preferably 5G
* Good OLED screen, 1080x1920 is probably enough. Although I do like S9+ 1440x2960 screen
* Stereo speakers, front and back camera, GPS (+ glonass, etc.), standard set of sensors.
* USB-C and headphone jack
* MicroSD slot that can actually read & write over 100 megabytes per second.
* NO ability for baseband to read and write memory arbitrarily; embedded USB connection or something.
* Price below $1000
I have a Gemini and have been very pleased with it and have supported the Cosmo too because I want to support them. I'm hoping that if they continue to make sales they'll continue to develop newer devices.
These projects aren't quite delivering your complete feature set but they're making the best go of it out of anyone I've seen.
What we really need though is a replacement for all Google Play Services that is free software, including push notifications.
It tries very hard to hide any non-portable components from you. The base platform is a virtual machine where you have zero access to any Linux API. They even indent their own API for things Linux already has! (Binder, ashmem, power management...) About the one Linux API you have access to is sockets, if you're writing native code, and there mostly a POSIX subset. (No, you do not really have access to file system directly.)
It could run on Minix or Windows or Darwin for all Google cares about - but hardware manufacturers preferred Linux for the price.
Pinephone (should be early next year, somewhere around $150) https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/
Librem 5 (should be Q3 2019, $650) https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/