True, but NSA is mentioned just because it made these discussions more vivid and relevant over the last months. The post doesn't claim that you get an NSA-proof phone. I don't think such thing exists.
Yeap. BUT between trashing your phone and filling it with proprietary apps there is a huge gap. This is what this post is about. I don't claim you'll get ultimate privacy. I'm sure that most people reading my post or commenting here are using a smartphone.
This is like saying there is no privacy for email so here I post my password on pastebin.
I control the software I run on my phone, so I have a better privacy. It's not perfect I know. But doing nothing because it's not perfect is the biggest illusion of all.