Skyline

Here is a thread with 4th July deals. On that forum you can often find deals for cheap, low-spec VPS.

live plex transcoding

If you need this, the most cost-efficient way is probably to get an Intel CPU with an integrated GPU that supports QuickSync (all recent ones do) and pay for the lifetime Plex Pass. In the long run, it's cheaper than getting a beefier CPU, let alone a dedicated GPU, just for transcoding.

I don't like it because it has become very iPhone-like in the bad ways, meaning it takes several clicks to do simple, common tasks. I much prefer Samsung's OneUI for how easily accessible everything is.

F-Droid is great! The official client is not the most user-friendly, but Droidify is a great alternative.

You can also look at Obtanium to download binaries straight from the applications' developers instead of those built by F-Droid.