Not sure if this is even worthy of a post, but I'm in the market for a new phone now and I only see Huawei, Google (specifically the Pixel, because you can't avoid Android really) and Apple on my boycott list. No gimmicky "privacy" phones (Librem etc), I need something fairly normie.
Recommend apps too if you have any suggestions, I use Microsoft everything currently.
As a picky phone user myself (Up until fairly recently I was one of those unicorn BBOS Blackberry Z10 users), here is what I would recommend:
Peruse the LineageOS current hardware list, and pick something introduced about 2 years ago that you can get fairly cheaply used via e-Bay. I personally went with a One Plus 6T. Make sure it can work on your cell service. Verizon is the oddball here, as they still use GSM, and not every phone does.
Next, add your device to your current cell plan via "bring your own device" option. Be prepared to ask for a new SIM card; I had to ask Verizon to send me a new SIM card, as the 6T would not receive SMS messages with my old SIM card.
Going this route tends to avoid all the bloatware that cell vendors put on their branded phones. It also gives you the option of flashing your handset to LineageOS, should you want to try that out (not for novices, high potential of bricking your device.) You can probably continue to get security updates from Google (I got one from One Plus in November last year)