Sadly it's still the same on my Pixel 7 Pro (GrapheneOS) and on my stock Lenovo Tablet too. The rotating logo only even after 5 minutes.
Discussion
Just tested with a old npub key generated from astral.ninja (that did not load in earlier Nostros versions) and its loading contacts now on GrapheneOS. Just had to click the "Relay" button and toggle on some more relays and it synced the contacts right away. Very fast and smooth now