Cell phone recommendations???

Could anyone recommend a good cell phone?  I am not looking for anything fancy.  Just for something reliable.  Could anyone think of any good phones that fall under the following criteria?

- compact (easy to fit into a purse)
- reliable
- especially marketed for pay & talk (phones that are marketed for a contract are very expensive if you choose the pay & talk option)
- good battery life
- has some indication that a message has been left for you (one of my old phones did not...I had to call in to see if I had a message)
- good reception
- offered by TELUS (I like their service the best...I would prefer not to switch)
- under $150CAD (is that too low a limit?  I bought a phone last year for that price)

I have to do more research. But for now I'll say this: stay away from the RAZR!

Why no Razr?

I guess, I'm just confused by Omar's advice. I have a Razr, and like it a lot. Fine, it's not that great for photo or mp3, but that's not why I have a cell phone. I use it mainly as a phone. Is that crazy of me?

I like that it's thin, and I haven't seen any Razr killers out there that are reasonably priced. It's easy to use, looks good, and gets the job done.

Even as a phone the RAZR is substandard. MY RAZR anyway. The mouthpiece is a bit loose so it causes a constant buzzing unless I hold the bottom tightly. When the phone is low on power you can't charge it through USB, it just acts all messed up and you HAVE to use the AC charger. If you flip the phone open and closed quickly the software gets all messed up and you'll get a blank screen for a while. You can't change the ringer silently!

I'm not even the only one that has problems with their RAZR, two of my friends have RAZRs and have issues with them as well. We looked so cool too when we'd all bust them out and synchronize. Now the dream is over.

With Telus, either you're gonna go mid-range, or sexy, or smart.

If you're going midrange I really don't think the actual phone makes much of a difference, just go with a solid manufacturer like Nokia or LG.

For sexy. You really only have one choice, the LG Chocolate.

Oh ya. My friend has this phone and we're all quite jealous of him. It's awesome. Well, it's definitely flashy. The RAZR looked awesome too, and look at how that turned out. Still, LG is a quality manufacturer so you should feel confident picking up one of their devices. And it just looks so sweet.

As for smart phones, I'm bias, but I say stick with RIM's blackberries.