I really have no interest in this becoming a thread about Gedolim/chareidim/E”Y vs U.S./Halacha vs Hashkafa etc etc etc. I’m trying to stay away from topics that may cause too much friction and argument.
You are already too late for that. You shouldn’t have said anything about moving to EY if you didn’t want to bring it up, as it was not relevant to the point you wanted to make.
The bottom line is that when I lived in the U.S., no one was telling me it’s forbidden, and both being in high-tech and loving gadgets I didn’t put too much thought into it. When I lived in E”Y, and became aware that practically every Chareidi Gadol said it’s forbidden, I moved to a kosher phone, although in the beginning it was quite difficult. Some may call doing what the Gedolim say close-minded. I call it smart.
So you dropped it because you became more aware of the P’sakim of the EY Gedolim. Had you been aware of their Psak in America, you claim that you would you have never had a smartphone in the first place? What made you so aware of their Psak all of the sudden? After all, most of us here (in the US) are and have been very much aware of the EY Charaidi shittos regarding kosher phones. They have been out for quite some time (in fact, since before smart phones were invented).