This captures a lot of how I feel too. I've said before that I use my phone very little, but it really needs to work when I need it, like to make or receive an

This captures a lot of how I feel too. I've said before that I use my phone very little, but it really needs to work when I need it, like to make or receive an urgent or emergency call or message (or increasingly, unfortunately and to your point, to authenticate myself somehow). To be assured of that, it seems like one can't stray very far from the mainstream. I only go as far as using MVNOs (to get my cost down to $5/month) and Google Voice (because I don't want my primary phone number and data tied to a particular device or MVNO). Even those choices lead to some glitches that I can tolerate but, say, my wife wouldn't. I agree that all non-emergency things are better done on paper or on my laptop rather than on a 6" touchscreen. If that's where a phone excels, it's missing the point.