Hope your life goes well in New Zealand. Leaving on the cusp of a new hope is an odd choice.

The Pixel 3 I have I got used and it still works, although the back glass is broken and the battery health is 85%, and stopped getting updates around a year ago. I'd say it's 5 years run so far (released October 2018) is pretty good. If you know of any other devices that would be useful for 4~7 years please share! I think high end Apple and Samsung devices would, and they are now committing to longer software support, and are likely to carry though.

Hello, here is a comparison of the 5G support specs. on the on T-mobile of two of the latest Fairphone's vs Googles latest Pixel. Note that as of writing the Fairhone 5 is not available in the USA

The Fairphone 4 https://murena.com/america/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-4/#tech-spec

5G supported bands n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n28/n38/n41/n71/n77/n78

The Fairphone 5 https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-5/#tech-spec

5G supported bands n1/n2/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n28/n38/n41/n48/n66/n71/n77/n78

The Google Pixel 8 https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_8_specs?hl=en-US

5G Sub-621: Bands n1/2/3/5/7/8/12/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/40/41/48/66/70/71/77/78
5G mmWave21: Bands n258/260/261

T-mobiles 5G bands https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/t-mobile-network

5GUC (Ultra Capacity 5G)

 undefined

        Band n41 (2.5 GHz) // Supported on all the above 
    Band n258 (24 GHz) // Only supported by the pixel 8
    Band n260 (39 GHz)//  Only supported by the pixel 8
    Band n261 (28 GHz) // Only supported by the pixel 8


  

5G (Extended Range 5G)

 undefined

        Band n71 (600 MHz) // Supported on all the above 


  

Hopefully this is helpful. Next would be the 4G LTE comparison.
P.S. I understanding what 5g frequencies are used in what cases in important to extracting meaning from this.

Thanks for checking my sources! I think you made fair points, and the sample size in the one test that seemed reference-able was too small, so I'll edit my post to suggest using a glass screen protector.

Thanks for the input, you have a lot of helpful points! I encourage others to do there own research as I have done. In my research I find that liquid “screen protectors” increase the force required to crack the screen, and have add no functional scratch resistance, hence why I recommend the screen protector on top, glass is the way to go, as it will crack hopefully absorbing the force of impact and you can replace it instead on you display :)

Here's what I found in my research about screen protectors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIPOTDUnUfo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhUrevQKFbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knv5_zc8ghA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S00WsL6cnvw

Thank's for the advice, and being the first replay to my first post! I've retired from Reddit and hope to add value to society without supporting as many companies I disagree with. :)