Personally I’ve used a Magsafe Pop Socket style grip for the last 5 years so my thumb naturally hovers over the center of the screen. Ergonomics of phones sucked in general for me as screens got bigger and bigger until I started using it.

You're not alone. Boggles my mind. I'm on GrapheneOS and they still won't bring it to Vanadium so petty me sticks with Firefox.

Yeah that part is maddenning. I've been using a side-swippable cursor thing to reach the bar at the top.