Auster

I wish Kbin allowed disabling picking the blurb's body of text X'D

Any with good hardware as long as you can switch to stable and community-made ROMs.

Can't disagree, UI still hurts the eyes, and I've been using it since 2021. "<.<
Still, so far, it appears legit through comments I saw from quite a few developers and users.

Bandcamp, Supraph Online, Ototoy, Uta 573, Steam and GOG's OSTs and Apple's iTunes store have been my to-go options. No DRM, no worries. Just avoid Apple's music subscription, as it is DRM'd.

In a 12-paragraphs news, with the later half being shorter than the first, the first 5 paragraphs are for praising the security changes (a pretty big red flag), the 6th is for introducing the important part (while using fearmongering), and only in the 7th and 8th paragraphs that they go through the important parts, with the method itself being basically a way to scare all but the most stubborn users.

I seriously suggest that the OP (or anyone else, really) unlock the bootloader as soon as possible, and if possible, changing the OS for anything Xiaomi can't touch.

I haven't read anything about Xiaomi tightening phone modding, but one thing I remember reading often when it came to modding systems for other devices is, "if possible, never update your system", so maybe something to keep in mind.