No, I'm standing by my original statement about the S4. I'm not going to gainsay you about the S5 — you may be right about that. But the conversations I heard were definitely around the S4. The person who replied after you said that it would trip a fuse, and that's what I remember. They contradict me as well to a point, but the bit about Knox tripping a fuse that software could check is definitely something I remember about the S4.

My knowledge of the S5 has nothing to do with Knox (I was on iPhone at that point) and everything to do with the port. People give Apple shit for Lightning, and some of them are even aware that Apple was on the USB committee. They were — and when they saw the USB-B cable/connector that the USB committee designed for USB 3, they said hell no. One nice thing about USB-B (micro B, I mean) was that you could plug a USB micro-A cable into the port on one side and it would still work, albeit at USB 2 data and charging speeds. It was an ugly port, and it wasn't symmetrical, and Apple wanted a real improvement over 30-pin, so they went to Intel and co-developed Lightning with them. So for the iPhone 5s (or base 5?) and onward, iPhones had a symmetrical charging port, which the USB committee followed with USB-C. A lot of Android guys didn't wanna touch the Galaxy S5/Note 4 on account of the weird new port. Then you had the Galaxy S6/Note 5 that didn't use that one Qualcomm chip because it had overheating issues, so they used Exynos across the line, and they also experimented with no removable storage (which they would do with either the S20 or S21 and then it became standard).

No banking, no Google Pay and things like 2FA apps like Authenticator if I recall right. A nightmare just for 2FA if you don't have a charged 2nd phone. if you suddenly left your wallet somewhere and have to pay a purchase at the supermarket with a full cart.

I just wanted to be able to record both sides of calls which is legal in my country, without having to use the official Phone app which warns participants with a forced beep and a voice note that the call is being recorded. Any alternatives?

I definitely remember the bit about the fuse. I can't recall if you could flash the firmware or not. You might be right about that. I never owned an S4. I went to HTC after my S3. I regret that. Pretty phone, but what a clustertruck inside.

You may have. I have an S10e as well (I often forget it's an "e", since it's just the base model). I wonder if I could flash it. I'm fine with the carrier firmware since I don't have cell service on it. That phone only goes up to LTE anyway, not that that's a big hindrance. Honestly if I could transfer the eSIM between my iPhone 16 Pro Max (which, yes, is five years newer and also the premium iPhone of its line) and the S10, I absolutely would, at least if I could easily go back and forth. The 16PM is absolutely the better phone overall, but I like typing on the S10 more (Gboard) and it has a few other cool features. I have like 50GB of music on its SD card. It has a headphone jack. I've used Nova Prime to customise the hell out of the home screen (and theme it after Animal Crossing, because I can). It's lighter, it's more comfortable to hold. As far as the OS goes, I don't have a strong preference. I might like it a bit better on official Samsung firmware though.

At least I know where to go if I want to go down that road (so, not asking). XDA.