Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can do some things but I wouldn't stretch it and say you can "basically do everything a modern phone can do" because in my country I can't use it to identify myself, I can't do banking on it, I can't ride the bus, buy tickets for trains, make payments and a lot of other very essential things that are now in our smartphones.
I can't do most of these things even on a smartphone in the US!... - identify myself: The state I'm in has not rolled out any support for electronic IDs so short of "taking a photo of a DL (which the Nokia also would allow for) and hoping for the best", I can't do this with a smartphone either. - ride the bus, buy tickets for trains: Ditto for transit. No phone-compatible NFC integration at all means I still need a g…
And then of course there are those who'd say the US is doing it right because we're so cashless that people are protesting against this new way of life.
I personally don't care. I think if we ever get to a point when an authoritarian rule is threatening our liberties then cash, traceable train tickets and pet store purchases are the least of our troubles.