I love it too and that's also the reason I am sticking with the S7. Its fast. It's popular enough so that if it ever becomes obsolete, I'll easily switch to LineageOS. And I never had to buy an expensive new phone, second hand cheap s7 are everywhere.

Disparition of physical buttons is a good example of "backwards progress" : another area where it drives me crazy is all those induction hobs that have touch buttons that never work properly when wet (which happens all the time it's a kitchen ffs). I get it, it's easy to clean, but it's a pitn to use.