Anker Prime Charger (250W, 6 Ports, GaNPrime): $169.99 but there's a $30 code that shows up for me, which brings it to one penny below your $140 too steep threshold.
FutileRecipe
Do you have Google services installed? I use MicroG...
Yes, I have Google Plays Services, Google Services Framework, and the Google Play Store installed, which are all sandboxed. MicroG isn't supported by GrapheneOS.
Nope, nor do I intend to. GrapheneOS frowns upon rooting and modifying the system as it typically widens your attack surface. I'm not using a secure OS then going around to purposefully make it less secure.
but I'm concerned RCS is going to become a deal break for me
For what it's worth, I have RCS working with GrapheneOS. I don't think I did anything special, but it did take awhile. I did see stuff on their forum about others having a bigger issue with it, though.
And of course, I prefer Signal, where possible.
Even just being rooted on the stock Pixel rom is a fight.
That, I can see being more of an issue than an unmodified, trusted 3rd party OS. If I remember right, rooting makes the device fail Verified Boot:
It establishes a full chain of trust, starting from a hardware-protected root of trust to the bootloader, to the boot partition and other verified partitions including system, vendor, and optionally oem partitions.
https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/verifiedboot
I've got old apps that won't work any more.
I'm actually for this. The bar to entry for the Play Store is too low with too many low quality and unmaintained apps. I'm all for booting insecure and super old apps. They cheapen the ecosystem.
I'm holding out for the 10. The 8 added mirrored display (so you can mirror your screen on a monitor... I'd rather this come with the Pixel Tablet 2 and the Pixel Tablet skipped it form some reason) and MTE, which GrapheneOS says is the most significant addition to security since they've started the OS. If those come with the 10, not to mention the 10 is supposed to have Google's inhouse chip and not Samsung's...yep, I'm upgrading.
Do you pass play integrity?
GrapheneOS, and other non-OEM OSes, do not. It's kinda the whole point of the article/OP I linked.
I'll have to make do with a secondhand 7 pro
Ouch, that hits me right in the 7Pro feels lol. Make do, indeed, lolol.
I could see things as simple as...
Last I heard, the McDonalds' app doesn't work, of all things.
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/9123-the-mcdonalds-app-doesnt-work/
CalyxOS lets me run most safety net stuff...
SafetyNet is deprecated.
https://developer.android.com/privacy-and-security/safetynet/deprecation-timeline
NFC works. NFC payment is dependent on the app as some block those that fail Play Integrity / Google certification. Google Wallet / Pay does not work for payment because Google blocks it.