What did you settle on? I’m starting to fantasize this reality too. I have an iPhone now.
I manage bank accounts, travel a lot, keep up with friends, clients, and peers, etc etc, and get by fine with looking up directions before I leave with a paper map as a backup.
Turns out you actually do not NEED a phone. I have a very digitally connected lifestyle which makes it that much more important I be -disconnected- whenever a workstation screen is not in front of me so I can be -present- in whatever I am doing or with whomever I am doing it with.
Where do you live that gyms don't work without a smartphone? Must be some hipster SV place with Juiceros and Keurigs I imagine.
All the gyms I've been to in Europe give you either a physical RFID card or armband for access when you sign up, no smartphone required. Then again I've only been to the most budget gyms, not the uber-fancy ones of tech-bros, lawyers and corporate elites, so maybe those gyms have "smarter" access systems too but I couldn't care less.
It is bizarre to me that anyone would state the few minutes saved per month on these as NEEDS.
I've been recommended to "just get a GPS" -- they're like $300, and I'm cheap :) so my dumpy little phone will have to do the job. That's like, the #1 thing I _really need_ out of a phone; the rest is distracting trash.
The best part is that you can pay _ridiculously low_ prices month to month through various carriers. Like $15 / month in the US, on top of the phone being $70. Good stuff in my opinion. I thought I was getting off good with ~$45 a month for Google Fi.
Get a second-hand Android device for those tasks, install LineageOS and F-Droid/Aurora Droid, don't put in a SIM card and you're set for much less than $300. You'll be running free software - e.g. OsmAnd for mapping using off-line maps, no connectivity necessary - and you won't be feeding Google (et al) your data as you will using that Nokia. The battery will last a long time with connectivity disabled as well, longer than that on those $300 GPS receivers.
This is a _fascinating_ idea. I have a Pixel 4a right now, can I install this stuff on there and just switch to a dumb phone entirely for... phone purposes?
It looks [0] like this shouldn't be too tough...
GrapheneOS is available for the 4a.
Replacing the firmware with something de-googled would make it more certain that don't login with a Google account during initial phone setup nor send any telemetry during that period before you go offline, or if you go back online eventually for map updates etc.
Also, if you're going to use it offline as just a "GPS tool", you might not care about other issues like getting firmware updates. It won't be subject to attack if you're offline and not browsing the internet...