"But my friend runs a PinePhone as a daily driver"
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I've been daily driving Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone 4 for over a year. I love it, even if some features are lacking. Calling and text is stable, but unfortunately Volte support is still missing. Waydroid is also working great.
I'm not sure if Ubuntu Touch is GNU/Linux, since it uses the android kernel I think. But it's not android either.