what you need?
Love my Pixel 3A XL. Is $400 or $480 unlocked retail depending on normal or XL. 3 years of guaranteed updates, security updates every month, no bloat, bamf camera, bamf battery life, still has headphone jack, 64gb storage.
Only downsides are plastic build (honestly I like this, should be more drop resistant), no sd slot, and ummm idk? Screen is "only" 1080p but looks great. Processor is a "mid-range" but I don't notice any lag. No ir blaster, non-removable battery but those are missing on every phone now...
Running Android Q beta right now for the hell of it.
Been happy with it. You can get cheaper phones but they're either bloated, never get updated, cameras suck, are a few years old, etc. Discounted Pixel 3 or Pixel 2 would be nice too, higher res screens and faster processor but shorter battery life.