Just sharing some thoughts -- I think it’d be cool if you could pick up a used Nothing Phone (1). They’re going for ~18k in the used market. Here’s my reasoning:
Given that you’re into custom ROMs, it's a solid choice with a pretty decent set of available ROMs. One cool thing is that you can lock the bootloader even with a custom ROM. Nothing kind of overlooked signing the data structure that checks the OS integrity with their own keys, so -- you can lock the bootloader using the default AOSP signing keys. This is great for getting around the whole SafetyNet and Play Integrity mess that's going on with modern devices.
The phone has solid camera sensors and a command mode display panel, meaning it has internal RAM that can enter a low-power state during static use or AOD. A lot of phones in the 20k-30k range don’t have this, and it’s often overlooked by the end consumer.
The Snapdragon 778G might not seem as flashy compared to its successors, but I haven’t found it lacking for my day-to-day tasks. The haptics are solid too -- Nothing uses a cool framework called ‘RichTap,’ also seen in OnePlus phones, to enhance the haptic experience. And of course, the Glyphs! They might not be the most functional, but they’re definitely cool.
