In terms of phone suggestions...my golden rule is that it's always up to the individual. Some people like flips, others like 'candy bars', etc.

From my personal experiences, and these are solely my opinions:

Sony Erricson and Motorola: Good top quality phones with innovative features. The user interfaces are usually very clean and fast. Motorola has had a few duds in the past couple of years but they are generally on point.

Nokia: I find them to be a good middle brand. They make rock solid equipment although it's sometimes not as fully-featured as other phones released at the same time. A solid performer none the less.

LG and Samsung: Strictly budget. These companies tend to integrate high end features while sacrificing quality. I've owned a few nice Samsung phones...nice in terms of feature and feature. However, I've also had more hardware problems with Samsungs than anything else. I would definately go with LG before Samsung.