the best phone to get in my opinon is the Samsung E350. It has so many good reviews on it's picture and video and sound quality I will be certainly saving up to buy this phone.
My advice is to go for a Nokia. Theyre virtually bombproof, good signal strength, and lots of accessories available for them. IMO you just need one that makes and recieves calls, sends texts and MMS and holds on to a signal and good battery time.
Just remember, the more technical the phone, the more can go wrong with it, and subsequently cost more to fix.