Andi

Because the paid-for "bloat" is per region. If you don't define the region..... taps side of forehead

Remember some 'core' apps, such as Paint and Calculator are delivered via the Store now too - so they'll also be missing.

When choosing the region/language, choose "English (World)". Boom, bloatware be gone.

You can safely change it to your correct region once you've logged in (Note: the Windows Store won't work until you do).

You can't run Android Auto directly on your phone anymore, it was disabled last year. It only runs as a service to be used by a suitable head unit.

DietPi (based on Debian). Incredibly lightweight. Easy menu system for installing apps easily which it then maintains and updates for you, or you can easily install Docker if you prefer that (or both). Contains a backup system if you want to use that too.

Wireguard needs kernel access so needs to run privileged.

You misunderstood. The US is <10% of Samsung phone sales globally (I found retail sales online for their handset sales per country) . And they will know the stats of which of those phones ever used the magstripe feature. An educated guess of <1% of global users activating the mag stripe feature is a feature they can afford to cut, especially if it saves on cost.

Re. the Mag-Stripe. Bare in mind the US is <10% of the market for the Samsung phones. And then you'd need to break down of the Samsung phones sold in North America - how many of those were S-series vs. the others which don't support the mag-stripe. Even if 50-50, that's now <5% of phones which have mag-stripe support in a country that uses it. Then rough guess of 20% of users actually pay by phone? You're now <1%. A small pale blue dot in the vast cosmic arena...

SD cards - there's also the point of user data security. Data stored on an SD card can't be easily guarenteed safe by Knox. Yes, you can encrypt it, but remove that SD card and the card itself can't protect the data from brute forcing encyption keys.

The other issues with SD card is security. Your data isn't safely tucked away, controlled by Knox if it's on a SD card which can be removed. And 'letting the user choose' just means that there needs to be configuration and extra options in firmware, which leads to backdoors and workarounds and a higher chance of comprimsed user data. (When they're not just stealing it off your device and selling it anyway...).

You'll need an OTG MHL adapter that has HDMI out as well as USB for your mouse.

Hook up to a TV, and it should just work..

I'm going to jump to Samsung's defense here as I think your anti-consumer belief is misguided:

• the SD card has been drifting away from most Android phones for the core reason of reliability. Data stored on SD cards is not at reliable and when apps are forced to run off the SD card, there are side effects and crashes which are nightmares for devs. When a non brand SD card loses a user's data, the user blamed the phone manufacturer, which is akin to putting the wrong fuel in your car and then blaming the car manufacturer that your car won't go.
• mag-stripe. Considering they are a Korean company, I don't blame them for dropping a complex feature used by a select few in the US. Because the US is the only country left that thinks the ancient technology of the magnetic stripe is still a good medium for the transfer of your bank details. Contact-less paymemt is now pretty much standard everywhere else and is so much more secure and standardised. The range and reliability of the contact-less payment has increased massively for me on the S23 in comparison to the S20 which was also lumbered with magstipe support.
• dilution of features? Again, why should it be more complicated? A larger phone can incorporate more lenses, screen and battery, but the core features and benefits should be the same to make the choice simpler for the consumer. Advertising of the range is simpler also.

Each to their own but these are just my views based on 11 years in the mobile phone retail business.

It's armv7, but should be v6 compat.