I have a smart phone and just love it. The most valued feature for me is the google talk on it. All you do is speak what you are looking for in the town and state you want and it brings it up. Since I travel a great deal with hubby due to his job I am always in a new area and it have become a life saver for me. I just switched from @%$! to Verizon and I got the Droid3 by Motorola and so far I am LOVING IT. For me every time I go to get the I PHONE and talk with the sales person I find that the Droid is more what I need. Mine was the same cost as the I Phone and they have different Data plans and I think the cheapest is like $10.00 if you will not be using it alot.
You may think you would not use all those fancy things as I used to but believe me it does not take long to get very very used to it.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do....