my cheap budget android smart phone has a removable battery micro sd headphone jack, the ads well that a function of what apps i chose to install, firefox with a adblocker and beig selective on my apps a i encounter minimal ads, thrid party apps well i have F-droid open source app repository (and at one point installed the amazon app store on my last phone) all i needed to do was check a box on a system settings menu. the IR blaster i do admit i haven't had on a phone/tablet in year but even in 2014 that wasn't common and my tv's streaming stick has a Bluetooth/WiFi remote app.

surveillance is mostly done a network level so not something my phone can do much about other than use tor enabled apps