I have heard of the Alcatel brand... and good things as well, cheap and reliable (are they US only?). Apple is pretty pricey, but there are many decent things that you get for it... although the battery thing was pretty badly handled from their end... it is a legitimate engineering design to balance the lower power draw on old batteries, to prioritise stability. They should have been more upfront about that! That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Android also does something similar... not at all a planned obsolescence, but a real balance for usability/stability.