I am using this sudden influx of newness to post more as well. Frankly I have nothing but positive interactions so far. I get way more interaction in the fediverse than I ever did on any other platform. All that to say, that I just started responding to random people’s posts. Everyone has been friendly.
I did not have that phone, but my first Android phone was the HTC One V. A nifty little budget device that had some nice metal construction for the price I paid. The chin it had was a bit odd though.