I've bricked the OS on my RPi enough times that the thought of hacking on my phone the same way makes me cringe... and I think that's the whole point.

I've tried different operating systems, hooked it up to all sorts of peripherals, left it running and hosting a VPN server in a drawer for an entire year...all things I'd never want to do with my phone, and all valuable learning experiences. A big part of the appeal is that it's not a computer you're relying on, so it's okay to break it (and fix it at your leisure).