galilao You are correct in that I could turn my Pixel 9A into a brick.
There's a video by a youtuber named side of burritos that has a video trying to brick a pixel phone during install and couldn't brick it. He mainly unplugs the phone during different steps iirc.
It is still possible to brick a device if you do something like have 5MB of free space on the phone and then you have a hardware failure or the grapheneos install is corrupted. There's many scenarios how a phone could break--keep backups of contact, photos, messages, etc.
Watch this video below about how to install grapheneos.
Remember this step at first:
sudo systemctl stop fwupd.service
Don't use a browser install via snapd or flatpak
Brave might have a shield icon near the top URL bar or something to disable and turn off for the grapheneos install website. The shield might cause the install to say error or your phone not being seen or something in the browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwWD-BgV3UQ
Some of the default apps are outdated, lacking features, and should be replaced. The default files app is useful for viewing folders that need higher permissions.
Consider getting a better app for: gallery, files, calendar, and--if you want to integrate birthdays or export backups--a different contacts app. There's some suggestions on this site.
For files I've heard of fossify file manager and amaze. I like the former.
You're always free to use both contacts apps or whatever.