Smartphone replacement tips

[ZdrProduce]

With the September 2026 deadline for third-party application installations on Android looming, I've been meaning to replace my smartphone that I was forced to get. I might end up needing some external thing to do 5G cellular, but aside from that I've been eyeing up a PlayStation Vita. However, I miss the dual-screens of the DSi, so I was also looking at some dual-screen handhelds. Steam Deck would be nice but it seems too out of reach for me right now.

What I'd really want is something like my DSi, that has physical buttons for gameplay, the ability to play music and watch videos, and maybe a camera. I should be able to emulate any 2D retro system, stuff from PS1 and later aren't as important but an ability to test out my TurboGrafx and SNES games on the go should be... a thing. Oh, and the handheld SHOULDN'T be based on Android, there at least has to be a way to put a general-purpose GNU/Linux system on it. I'd also like the ability to put in SD cards, which the Vita doesn't do by default.