As a pinephone owner I can tell you that non android based Linux phones are years away from having a feature set that would make them acceptable for a general consumer.
I d definitely recommend the pinephone for playing with it and watching it's progress though ;)
As I said, for me it is not about the experience. I just want to run Linux on my phone and be part of the journey. If I have a working terminal, that would already be cool.
The thing with the PinePhone is that it is not very easy to buy. Say I get used to the PinePhone as my daily driver for having a terminal in my pocket. And then it breaks. Then I am f*cked and have to wait weeks or months for a new one to ship from Hong Kong.
If we were at the point were I can just go to a store, buy a phone and put Linux on it - I would start right now.
Years away? Nah. The PinePhone was literally useless as a phone at the start of the year, now I'm close to mainlining it. As long as calling/SMS/internet works it's good enough for me.
I d definitely recommend the pinephone for playing with it and watching it's progress though ;)