Blu makes some decent phones for pretty cheap. I used the Bold N1 for quite a while. I believe the Bold N2 is out now but I’ve admittedly moved onto a Pixel since I’ve had the budget for it.
DDG isn’t the paragon of privacy. Try Qwant or StartPage.
For any Americans that are confused by this: Wikipedia | Continents
I did the same a month ago… Still no regrets.