I'll be using an android bar phone now.

It's F22 Pro (black) by DuoQIN / QIN (depending on region) / Xiaomi (parent company) and yea, it's not exactly a "dumb" feature phone.

It does have some issues and I got the full Google """spyware""" edition (I still hate that Xiaomi doesn't pack their own software in the phones which use google services, which I'm gonna disable soon anyway and it was the same shit with Pocophone F1 I used to use, which funny that their subsidiaries always use F for their models, anyway-) but it's been working quite alright so far - biggest change is the battery curve. Apparently it can last 2 days but I can tell you right now: screen time cuts into it way harder than usual. Aditionally it ONLY comes with T9 (and gboard) so normal typing on the integrated keeb required me to install an external app and I can't answer calls with front buttons now (idk if that's related tho, the keeb had to be changed asap) HOWEVER it came out in late 2022 - the system is pretty up to date as a result, it's screen is just about the size of the first iphone, meaning JUST large enough for thumb to stretch all the way across, as God intended and the size doesn't feel weird next to other phones height-wise (and I carried an old Ericson in my bag for a while - it's tiny in comparison, as was F21 Pro and F22 stock btw, if you;d preffer that, but be warned - on screen keyboards will suffer there). I don't think you can change the battery "on the fly", as I'd like to tho, no SD card slots either, camera and screen both suck visibly, front camera is arguably better than the back one, but it's in the # key (again, like F21 PRO) - it's weird, but it's at it's core still an android phone, so y'know - I can still use discord and SpaceHey app. All is well for the most part.

Also yea - this one does 4G easy, it's from 2022 after all, so worlds biggest concern with keypad equiped phones doesn't apply to it OR it's immediate family
I don't think it has 5G, but I can't tell - my sim got a bunch of features like RCS and 5g disabled a few years back for sum reason so I'm not missing those, just going off of what I've read about it.

Now, with allat outta da wey - my story with it:

I knew I wanted something narrower, the wide screens piss me off. I was considering Galaxy Fold 2 hoping it'd go down in price as some 4, and soon 5 newer models released, but it did NOT reach the point of viability at all - a shame, I still think Samsung has the most plesant Android Experience since original line of LG swifts back in Android 4 days.
After that I figured - japanese phones. Japan still loves their flip phones and such, I found tutorials, I found a resale site, and then I took a look. Plenty of models, decently reasonable prices but... Most of those phones were from 2017 or so, which is older than my Galaxy Note 9, similarly outdated and unsupported system, worse specs and similar price, at least from the importers. So instead I went to MGSm.pl put in all of my desired specs and form factors, and I got left with around 17 phones. From there I eliminated them one by one till I was left with F22 Pro and F21 Pro. To be fair, the site doesn't have everything - it didn't have base F22, which I now know is out there, but I know it to be a reliable source and they did not disappoint this time. It's thanks to them that I know it's runniing a 8-core 2GHz CPU with 4GB of RAM. Also that it's screen is not hardened, which makes the fact I accidentaly peeled up the included screen protector when trying to take off it's protector a bit painfull, but it was just thin plastic, I thin I'd preffer actual glass be cut to size for it instead anyway (it's bare for the time being tho, making the next part kinda scary).

Now, just as an example as to why exactly I wanted narrower phone, between last and this week I dropped my phone twice why riding a bike within 2 days. No one was around, I was well away from any trafic or even roads/rails, I was comming to a stop, it was to read a message, but I had to try to unlock my phone, so I culdn't be grabbing it firmly - hands simply too sweaty for finger prints and I'm not using face id, fuck off. Some time ago I figured I'd preffer a physical keyboard because over time I started missing my keystrokes on touch screens, but I realised that with a keypad I could honestly, at least on the countryside where noone's around, actually unlock the phone blind off of muyscle memory, look away briefly to read a message, especially if it was short, and type up a reply, once agiain blindly, WHILE holding the phone as securely as humanely possible, with no risk of accidentally touching the wrong key on the board with the inside of my hand (can you see that this is a circumstance I struggled with before already?), all while IN MOTION - again, in a secluded countryside area, with no trafic vehicular or otherwise.

But not with the stock controls, so what did I go with. I went harder on F-droid this time, because I hate Google and play store by extension. And oh boy did it deliver. Classic T9 is currently THE thing powering that integrated keyboard and it's nearly perfect. One issue I still have with it is that I am yet to find a way to input one, singular capital letter and for some reason if you swap the casing immediately after typing a letter before it commits to the text field, it actually retroactively changes it's own case. Annoying as hell, but inconcievably better than stock. Then there is Gboard. I used to like gboard a lot, I'm quite sure I actually went with it on my first LG L5 for a while, replacing whtever they got there by default, but that was back whernI actually liked Google a lot - was probably my favourite company for a while. Hate the thing now and with moving to more private convos outside of incognito mode - Microsoft SwiftKey which was my replacement up till now, was becoming less and less of an ideal - with how often key words I don't want appearing to anyone started to appear in predictive text, especially with an NDA I recently signed (not that it involves secret words or writing in general), it all just compounds - so F-droid again gave my my take - simple keyboard was ok but Fossified Keyboard was better - no predictive text in either one, but quick access to clipboard is honestly probably going to be even better given recent personal activity. Really the only thing F-droid didn't help me with was navigation bar. The stock one could not be inverted - a deal breaker, and a very odd choice given where the "go back" button is on the physical keyboard, I'd think i'd be logical to at least have the option to have them in one place. Here the solution came from play store. Problem. It doesn't have "change input method button" solution: it's (kinda) integrated into the keebs themselves. the classic T9 just has it in it's quick menu, as for the on screen ones - here simple keyboard would've been better than the fossify one (simple one just has you hold space bar to swap, where is fossify has you go into it's main app), but it's not enough of a problem for me to care. I also installed a Galaxy S10 launcher which has adds in the app menuy but they're just icons and I'm willing to keep giving it a try for now. I might swap to Nova, it's a classic for a reason and I used it in the past too.

So it ain't quite perfect but it's more future proof than any alternative I found, and as comfortable to use as I could ever expect it to, so I'm pleased with it. I will hold on to my previous phone for the time being and see how things continue to go, but I'm of positive outlook on things to come.