Yes, I also bought this for privacy reasons and not for the minimalist approach.
I cared about having a de-googled phone and having the offline+ switch. I also really wanted an e-ink screen and like you said, the other e-ink options didn’t seem good in this regard, plus I needed one that supported sideloading apps.
And I’m with you on this. I noticed the lack of DNS options immediately because it was one of the first things I tried to set on my phone. There are apps that will do it for you but it’s frustrating that yet again Mudita developers disabled an option that exists by default in Android. It seems they’ve decided that if they don’t use an option, no one does. I think they need to add a cybersecurity analyst to their team.
Another issue is not having the option for whole-device encryption with a pin to decrypt it on boot. As a privacy and security minded individual, I see that as a risk.
Others have already addressed the telemetry issue. Despite them saying that it only collects non-identifying data, not being up front about that or having an opt-out is concerning. Current workaround is to disable all stock Mudita apps and install FOSS versions (which are usually better anyway), although there’s no good way that I’ve found to do that with the phone app (if you try to switch to a sideloaded phone app it won’t display the incoming call screen when you get a call).
And there’s the lack of VPN options too. Obviously we can sideload VPN apps but Android itself has options for VPNs such as designating one as an “always on” VPN and blocking internet access if the VPN disconnects.
The newest update also disables key parts of the accessibility menu, which some apps rely on to work properly.
Now some items that are hidden on the menu can be accessed if you enable develop options and then use the search function, but the above items appear to be disabled entirely, which is just stupid. That’s extra work for the developers just to take things away from us the users.
Again Mudita, please STOP disabling options that already exist!
Unrelated to the menu, but since we’re talking about security, I’d also prefer if they switched to the latest version of AOSP, which is more secure.