No one is forcing you to use another app store. I'm sure the operating system will also allow you to turn off apps from unknown sources just like Android. More options for other people is not a bad thing. People paid for the device, they should be able to use it however they wish.
Arch might actually be a great start if you had prior experience in Linux and want to learn more about it. For example, if you are in computer science and you are doing systems programming you probably have used Linux at the command line, Arch might be a great way to continue working on similar projects.
Before Chromebooks, my towns school system had netbooks which were pitifully slow on Windows. They installed Ubuntu instead. The netbooks still sucked, but probably sucked a lot less.
I don't know about you, but I get annoyed that I still can't use NFC at checkout. It's 2023, tap to pay has been around in the US since 2016 and much longer in Europe.
But please don't give unsolicited advice about Linux. No one wants that.