My dream phone would basically be a phone jammed into a small handheld console with a big battery. Like stuff a pixel into a gameboy advance and that'd be perfect.

In many cases that accessibility is a full-on neutered replacement for a previous system that offered more user control and customizability, removing options from power users, so one man's progress is another man's step backwards.

As someone with a second hand Galaxy from seven years ago, yeah there's not really much difference. Newer phones are slightly more annoying to use, actually.

Only difference is lack of updates for security and latest android, turns phones into ewaste long before the end of the hardware useful life.

There's no forced Gnome 3 (and it's not been called that for a long time either), because you choose to install it, have the freedom to install anything else you want, and can customise it infinitely if you so choose.

Besides, Gnome is great. Maybe you don't like it, but it seems odd to say that the way Linus Torvalds uses Linux is the "wrong" way to use Linux.

If you want to keep using Gnome 2 there are a million forks that are actively maintained, or idk you could just use another desktop. Nobody is forcing you to use gnome but you aren't entitled to having a project do things the way you specifically want.