Picking a new phone

2011 - Such an exciting time.  Apple is on the fourth generation of iPhone, and Android phones are appearing everywhere.  It should be easy to find an excellent cellphone for any taste and any budget, right?  Right?

Looking around, I quickly realized that there are thousands and thousands of phones out there, and to have any success in finding a good one, you need to determine exactly what you want.  Fortunately, I was able to define my wants to a razor's edge.  I wanted a phone that was:

• Unlocked and compatible with my GSM network.
• Fairly small, easy to fit in my pocket.
• Good battery life, able to go a few days without recharging if I didn't use it much and able to withstand a couple hours of conversation.  As good as my old piece-o-crap phone, OK?
• Equipped with a reasonably good camera.  By "reasonably good", I mean "able to produce pictures that I could actually look at later."
• Able to transfer pictures to an online service, preferably Facebook, in an easy wireless way.  Like my iPod Touch (hopefully better resolution pictures than the iPod, because the iPod almost violates the "pictures-good-enough-to-actually-look-at" requirement above).

To summarize, what I wanted was 1) a phone, that 2) had a camera that could take okay pictures that 3) I could easily upload.  I was going to make phone calls and send text messages and take pictures and post them online.  THAT'S IT.

My budget was, say, $200.  Doesn't sound unreasonable, does it?


Yeah.  Well.  About that...