i think their matrix server is hosted by element

firefox can do the same with any other search engine, it has a search widget

sorry, but I think what you are looking for is platforms like Lemmy. it is not centralized, it is distributed. not peer to peer, sure, but

• since a lot of devices are not being online at the same time, mobile phones but even desktop PCs always go offline for some period of time, the direct communication wouldn’t really work with a lot of other users
• you would need to store much more dataon each of your devices, unless you’re the kind who doesn’t care about mindlessly deleting past conversations

did they also move the HS to the phone?

I only have Telegram and Matrix. SMS? To me that sounds to be a huge step back, even from Telegram

I have a very low value lenovo tablet that my provider was giving away essentially for free (for worthless loyalty points I think). its BL cannot be unlocked, it has a special bootloader that does not implement the standard unlock commands.

Other than that, I have to admit I don’t often deal with cheap phones, because my experience was that not even LOS supports a lot them. Maybe that’s changed though.

that’s true, but at least try to buy one that’s not extremely locked down, or unnecessarily convoluted to unlock. that instantly rules out all samsungs, for both of these reasons and for destroying phones when sent for repair to an official service

I don’t see it, probably it was removed again

if with cell phones you mean the non-smart, dumb phones then I can agree. however if you buy the cheapest of smartphones, what you’ll get is even more datamining than usual, which you may be even unable go remove because it’s bootloader cannot be unlocked.
but I would say don’t cheap out on tech generally, because you’ll get extremely weak security and nonexistent respect towards you as a customer.

smartphones is a dirty business. don’t support the bad actors with your many, and then long term with your data