been in the same boat as the OP, I've been using my Samsung S7 Edge but really want the extra real estate! The Ipad mini 2, the Nvidia Shield and the Samsung S2 are all on my watch list...
I would never buy a Phantom as my first drone personally but that's just me. I learned on various toy grade units from Cheerson, Dromida and a rather awesome little Hubsan 501s !!