Find a phone that can be rooted and only include whatever apps you want. I truly hate phones with uninstallable apps. I mean yea the operating system needs some stuff that shouldnt be removed, but I dont need mandatory commercial crap that phone company was PAID to force down our throats. I was forced to upgrade last Feb as my phone at time wasnt white listed for ATT network when they eliminated 3G. So found cheapest used phone on Ebay that was whitelisted. It was an ex-ATT (I use an MVNO on ATT network) phone with all their uninstallable crap. And unfortunately small brand Kyocera so nobody had come up with way to root it.
The biggest pain on it was wading through all that included crap each and every time I used it, to find what I wanted. So found a customizable launcher, via F-droid. Completely customizable, only show apps you want even if its only one or two. Then pick non-spy F-droid apps and try to put the unwanted apps to sleep. Not that some of them stay asleep. Seriously you want real control, you need a phone you can root.
Oh and I am with first poster, I need a cheap phone that can do voice, text, and can be made so I can tether to my computer for internet. thats only requirement, oh and has to have some longevity, not a struggle with it three month and toss which described most new low end phones. Not wanting to pay much. I lucked into the Kyocera for $25, its not some cheapie quality wise, just older. It was cheapest used whitelisted phone I found, probably cause most never heard of Kyocera brand. Usable ones now start more like $35 to $40. Yea not spending $400 on a phone. Unfortunately its one of those they built the phone around the battery so cant just pop off back cover and pop in new battery.
So I applaud a de-Googled new phone, but not paying that kind money. And guessing in USA, better check if its whitelisted before purchase. Being technologically capable has little to do with being whitelisted, the manufacturers have to pay ATT to get their product on the whitelist. There were lot people here with grey-market phones not officially sold in USA but technologically capable that were out of luck when the whitelist nonsense was implemented. I think Tmobile is little less anal about this, but they wont guarantee any non-approved phone will work on their network. Buy an unofficial phone at own risk. If it does work, they wont kick you off like ATT. No idea on Verizon but guessing similar. Those are only three networks in USA (oligopoly) the rest simply buy wholesale amounts from the big three and resell it in retail accounts. (MVNOs) Some of MVNOs have their own even more restrictive whitelists, meaning they want to force you to buy a NEW phone from them.