I swapped my daily driver for a cheap dump phone from Amazon and it has been great. The only thing I miss is having a good camera with me to take pics once in a while.

What can I use as a solution to that when I don't carry a smartphone anymore?

A decade old point and shoot is a good option.

I’ve got an Olympus m4/3 mirrorless with a pancake lens and it’s pretty easy to carry every day.

Pick up a used Ricoh gr

Another vote for the Ricoh GR. The most pocketable high quality camera I can think of, and very quick to fire— that’s one of their famous features as a “street camera.” I absolutely love mine.

Nokia had some pre-android era phones with symbian that had a monster cameras. Maybe you can find one of those.

The recommendations for the Ricoh are solid, I've seen pics taken on one, and have snapped a few for the person that owns it. Simple to use, plenty good quality, and not too big to make it practical to carry all the time.

That last one is the real kicker. There's a saying that gets beat to death in photography of any level: the best camera is the one you have with you. It's why phone cameras have made so many more pics than is even sane. We carry them almost everywhere, and they're quick to deploy.

Mind you, any pocket friendly camera from maybe the last ten years or so is going be at least usable. The Ricoh is just one of the more reliable ones and doesn't sacrifice much in the way of the hardware. You can tell a difference between that and a full size slr with a decent lens, but you can also tell the difference between it and a phone cam.

Edit: I will also say that used is necessary for most people, they ain't cheap.

Have a look at the Fuji x100. I dunno if it's too big but I find the focal length and f stop more suitable and people shots are awesome

Second hand Leica D-Lux ?

i bought a used sony a6700 with a sigma 18-50mm for that very reason. Not that pocketable but small enough and i actually shoot more because i usually keep it in my hand when i am travelling. An the creative styles + white balance bias means, i barely ever manually edit the raws and i can transfer them wirelessly to my phone and sync them automatically with my immich server.

I have anothet compact ttartisan 25mm f/2.0 as a fun/more compact lens for when i want it a little more pocketable.

Probably one of the best purchases i’ve ever made.

I had the same problem but I won't be much help, I went full tilt and bought a Fujifilm XT4 and an 18-55mm lens for it. Need a whole ass bag for it but honestly, no regerts.

nokia 808 and lumia 1020? i believe. they're kinda overpriced these days, not worth it unless you find one cheap

i use a rx100 m1, takes a while for its popout lens to come out but it's decent otherwise.