this feature is actually related to note taking though. its not like evernote where they were off making nonsense contacts or food rating apps instead of improving their core note taking app
seeing as the phone is a chonker, you could maybe fit a thin screen on the top side of the phone, which would let you see some basic info without having to take the phone out of your pocket. (as long as the headphone jack was at the bottom and the power button on the side)
im using kodi myself. i used libreElec for a few years which is basically just kodi as an OS. i switched to a OSMC recently which is a bit more expensive than a raspberry pi but the hardware and then OSMC skin is a bit nicer
i mainly use it with the jellyfin plugin so all of my media is stored on a NAS and kodi just acts as the player