What I want is freedom of PC hardware of the 1990s in a smaller form factor. A smartphone consists of a system-on-chip (SoC) computer, memory chip, modem, display, cameras, antennas, sensors, card slots, battery - all could be modular. And be of a convinient form factor so that several companies offer such parts.
Android took the omnipresence role of Windows 95 on smartphones and tablets (though Android device driver are hard to find).
Back in 2006 I had a modular notebook built by an OEM sold under different brands. (picture: http://p-fst1.pixstatic.com/51b62f6dfb04d67b66000b29._w.540_... ) What a great hardware platform.
In 2016 the notebook market is in a bad shape - business notebooks: lower build quality (no Thinkpad robustness), higher prices and no modular notebook platform. And on PC the trusted computing (UEFI, GPT, Palladium) accelerated by Microsoft is hostile to non-Windows 8+ operating systems. Hopefully, the EFF can do something there.