I can recommend the Samsung Galaxy A25. Has samsung chips (A15 has mediatek) and an audio jack (A35 does not). From what I've seen the new models (A16 at least) have all ditched the audio jack.
Decent phone with an okay screen, a headphone jack, and expandable storage.
My guess is that Google recently devalued the negative reviews from the API fiasco because enough time has passed. The reviews are (probably) still there, but those 1 star ratings are no longer in the "average" shown to users.