I ran a factory head unit with a phone on a vent mount for almost three years in my old commuter, so I know exactly the annoyances you're describing. Directions fighting the radio volume, yanking the phone off the mount for every call, and that charging cable snaking across the shifter. What finally made it click for me was realizing the phone mount only fixes half the problem. The audio connection and the cable are the part that never gets better with a stock deck.
If your car has a standard single or double din opening, the swap is honestly a weekend afternoon job. You need a dash kit for your specific car, a wiring harness adapter so you're not cutting factory wires, and an antenna adapter on some older models. Everything unplugs, everything plugs back in, and the factory harness adapter keeps your speakers and power working like nothing changed. I wired mine so I could still use the steering wheel controls with a small interface box, which was the detail I skipped the first time and regretted imediately.
The everyday difference is what sells it. Directions come through the speakers and pause the music automatically. Calls ring through the deck and I answer with a button on the wheel. My phone charges on a short cable tucked behind the dash instead of dangling over the center console, and it stays on the mount the whole trip. I stopped fumbling with my phone at red lights entirely.
One tip nobody tells you: check how deep your factory unit sits before ordering. Some older dashes have climate control or ducting right behind the radio, and a unit with a big heat sink won't fit. Pull the trim panel and measure first, it takes five minutes and saves a return shipping headache.