Used a Z1 for +7 years so fell in love with Sony phones and made me got a 1ii (I'd think naming them as 1.0, 1.1... could be a much better convention that this stupidity) when it finally had to say goodbye.
Those four 'cons' points are exactly the same points people complained about them 4 years ago.
They're absolutely great, I'd feel miserable with another phone brand - but It's unbelievable they have done absolutely nothing in this time to assess those points.
I'd wish I was filthy rich to get one.
I got the 1ii. It's still rock solid (maybe the battery life is a bit hurt, but everything else is going flawless) but yes, the 2 year software support is simply ridiculous.
I ended installing LineageOS - can't say it's better to keep going with Android 11 or going custom ROM for every case, but I don't regret it.
That 'it's still rock solid' is the main reason my previous phone was a Sony (Z1) and decided to got another one from them - their hardware quality is just superb. Used my Z1 for seven years and it worked great all the time - until shit happened and fate decided I had to get another one.
I'm a bit curious about why you have been waiting for it "only" for half a decade, since that feature was gone since 5.0, more than a decade now.
All in all there have been no mention of it coming back whatsoever, and for what I understand they removed it because the code behind it was causing lots of trouble with Qt5 and was impossible to mantain. And they've stated they won't be reviving this feature.
Not sure if you're still following Luwx/Lightly, but there's a fork of it - boehs/Lightly (though for what I've seen the changes it has had have been imperceptible).
Fair points but I still think there's one "desktop" project they host that should not only be supported and get fundings, but be one of their top priorities: Servo.
I think it's crucial not only for the Linux desktop but for the future of the open web. It's has the potential to be a great web renderer engine (it's built atop Rust) and, with good support and development, in the middle-long haul it could be a serious, community-driven alternative to the hegemony of Chrome/Chromium.
After Mozilla ditched it due to the abhorrent administration they had, it went to The Linux Foundation. Afaik there's no more paid people working on it nor working on it full time as it was when it was under Mozilla. With its enormous funding it's insane that Servo has to look out for its own fundings.