Instead of going all-in on Android, you get to choose the apps that are most important to you and otherwise minimize your exposure to the privacy-grab. For example, if you'd really prefer to avoid using Android but do want mobile banking on your phone, just get the app for that and skip everything else.

Personally I like having Linux on the phone a lot for other reasons as well. For example, last summer I was backpacking in North America for several weeks. At some point I realized that I'd really hate to lose the photos on the memory card of my DSLR. Instead of getting another card and hiding the first one somewhere "theft-proof" in my belongings, I just went to BestBuy, got a memory card reader, plugged that into the phone, mounted the memory card filesystem and rsynced the files home over my vpn - which is exactly what I would have done if I had my laptop with me. Sure, I probably could have figured out a way to achieve something similar on Android as well, but having all the familiar tools available made it so much easier.