Phone Suggestions For Best Praxis

Hello,

I have just found this community and am really lacking in the privacy aspect (I'm a glorified farmer by trade).

I own the cheapest smartphone that I could buy and it has worked beautifully for the past two years or so... until recently. It's slowed down dramatically and screws up everything. I suspect this is the corporate method of motivating one to get a new phone.

I'm also reading up on the info post on how to make a discrete email.

What phone would be best to buy so that I'm am minimally under the corporate money-extraction machine?

Any info is appreciated as I'm a total noob.