Any software recommendations and stuff? I mainly want to use it for streaming videos and playing ps2 emulator, not so much emulating but just to try it out. Anti virus stuff, things in this realm- been using banana phone for years haven’t had android since high school.
I get what open source is but I need examples, like do I need to replace my OS?
If you just want to run ad-free and reasonably-privacy-friendly apps on your android phone, no. If you stick to apps you can find on F-Droid when possible, and use only apps from the Google play store if there's no alternative, you should be OK.
If you have more specific security/privacy concerns then things get more complex.