I have done a lot of pixel repairs and GOS installations . Pixels are glued shut. It is repairable but it is quite sure to say that the screen will break if removed , it’s kind of like removing two eggshells glued together. Requires a lot of patience and luck to do it without breaking it. Once in it’s not harder than any other phone. That said my own has a a 40 euro case to avoid the issues of repairs, I recommend that. Screens are 100 + euros nowadays. So repairs is rarely worth it. Depends on the price you can get the parts for it.

Batteries can be replaced but takes some work and hot air gun to remove glue.

For GOS yeah that’s what you want it’s the best. And I do everything from debian distros.

Don’t use aurora. Instead install GOS implementation of google play on a separate user profile if needed. The user profiles are a lot better sandboxed than regular user profiles and the gapp implementation better than aurora. And most things work without it also.

GOS gets more support than regular pixels but are recommended to not trust after pixel official updates end. For the new ones it’s 7 years. Usually GOS gets a year extra of minor updates. Check the FAQ and device support on https://grapheneos.org/faq

I use mine for nearly everything. And there are either FOSS apps from FDroid (and additional repos) or just use the mobile website for non Foss stuff like banking. There are a few exceptions , like Whatsapp that I need but it have fewer permissions and no access to contacts ( there’s a Foss app as helper for that as well) . Your headphones will work fine.

I’m quite experienced in Linux but I wouldn’t use either. Arch is great if you like to tinker, Ubuntu sucks for the not so libre approach , corporate ties, telemetry etc. I distrohopped before but today I just install my debian based distro and shit works… Ubuntu I’ve installed twice before when I was new to Linux, and have had a major issues every time due to official updates that broke internet drivers and other things, that’s a fun one when you only have one PC . Not to mention its so bloated that shitty computers that I like to thinker with it have a hard time catching up. The arch thing is also mostly a kind of meme, targeting the more unbearable nerds. People I hated when I was a noob (they will let you know you are) But they are found everywhere and in general I don’t think there’s more of those people in arch community than anywhere else. It’s more of a stab at elitism than arch specifically.

I see a point in arch but zero in ubuntu.