Nala is a great apt frontend. It supports parallel downloads of packages and speeds up the whole process up a lot.
Not sure which commands irk you as too long. Nala makes a good overview of changes like which package is bumped to what version and where it stands now. So I basically only use
nala upgrade
and take it from there. Updates the sources, lists the diff for upgradable packages and ask me to go forward or abort.
Well, there is in the EU, but that does not help anyone not here.
An unlocked boot loader is something that would have to be forced from Apple’s hands like sideloading was in the EU. No way in hell they would pursue that on their own.
Rapairability is a point that bugs me as well, hoping for right to repair laws in the EU to force all manufacturers to make the devices better in that regard.