Yes, Mozilla sync is encrypted, but your account data is sended to Alphabet (Google) and tracked by googleanalytics and google-tagmanager.
Zerush
Also because Blink is the best and most advanced engine. The problem of Chromium is only that it need to gut out the Google APIs before it is a valid base for an browser. Vivaldi does it, also degoogled Chromium and even EDGE (but in change filling it with a ton of M$ tracking APIs). The only alternative (Linux only) is the Konqueror Browser with the Grandfather of Blink, KHTML by KDE (German company).
Yes, but even more important to avoid sync with an Mozilla account, if you need the sync function (maybe Filen?) (Vivaldi has an own sync EE2E)
I use Vivaldi (EU), it has an inbuild adblocker. In chromium browsers Mv3 means that Mv2 Extensions are eliminated from the Chrome Store in June this Year. Mv3 adblockers are still there, there is uBO light (same as uBO, but without element picker) and Adblock Plus, which is pretty equivalent to uBO. The inbuild ad/trackerblocker (customizable with own filterlists or those from uBO, DDG, AdBlock plus and others) in Vivaldi isn't affected by Mv3 and pretty effective (>99% in the test). In extensions other than those related to security and privacy, it's irrelevant for the user if they are Mv2 or Mv3 and mostly redundant in Vivaldi.
If you prefer Gecko browsers, the only one from the EU is the Mullvad Browser (Sweden), which can still use uBO, but also Gecko Browser will not support Mv2 all eternity because the related different cookie management used by most webpages with Google APIs, also apart from the will of the devs to continue developing MV2 for a minority engine, such as Gecko (~ 4% Market Share).
I have no enthusiasm about a CEO, I have posted this article simply as an alternative more of an smartphone that does not go with Google or Apple, allows the use of Linux and also allows you to fix it by yourself with standard spare parts. This is in any case preferable to a mobile stock controlled by Google or Apple, period. I bet that some negative votes are made by users of Brave with it's nazi CEO, supported by fishy Crypto companies, the rest for sure use an Fairphone. Right?
It does, in it's early stage eg. Ubuntu Touch, but I think there isn't any problem to run other Distros too, at least Android itself is Linux (stock Android is only bad because it's contamined with Google APIs) and Linage OS is an Android fork. The OS isn't a problem, but the question is the compatibility of the needed apps, eg, in profesional ambit, medical apps or other official apps, all of these normally only for Android or iOS.
Yes, Google can decide what goes in it, but because it's FOSS, any other can decide what to delete from it. The power of Google isn't Chromium, but the Chrome Store, it's services, and all Websites which use Google APIs. Vivaldi has less relations with Google than Mozilla/Firefox, it don't have third party investors or sponsors, like Mozilla, which depends on Google ads and money and recently also from another advertising company, loosing it's independence with it.