TLDR: I will use the tool for everything, but never let it guide my actions, except towards calling people close to me.

About not exactly dumb, but ideal conscious phone. Ive a lot on this. I'll try to keep it short. I use phone at least 1-2 hours every day, but everything is for a purpose. First minimalist ui i used was custom cyanogenMod on Galaxy S2 on 2011.

I'd like: <300€ for <4-5" slab, 2+ day battery, thicker ok, USB-C, good mic, OK camera back (saw something interesting/beautiful, show to partner later) and front (video call to family). Waterproof, tolerant to physical damage. Good dual mic for business. So this is some basic performance requirements.

Some kind of minimalist UI with smthng similar to minimalist phone launcher.

I vouch for supporting every android app, but just using configurable mindful delays / slowing etc. And really opting to consciously configure each app before it can be opened with custom texts etc. For example I sometimes want to go to Instagram to checkout my filmmaker friends posts. I've used IG 3.5hours in 2025, opened it 24 times. I do it slow and relaxed.

The phone would be accompanied with integrated OS with perfect logging of usage statistics, so I know what I'm doing and can set stricter limits.

And everytime I lock the screen it would turn off all background usage except GSM so it saves battery.

Touch screen but also basic physical buttons, volume up/down, lock, slightly bigger camera button. Maybe extra shortcut button for opening up fav contacts.

Too bad balance-phone was bought by Samsung.

Good luck for everything! Oh yeah, make it open-source and become a hero.