I got my smartphone for NZD149, which at the current rate is USD112 or so. It's pretty much the cheapest smartphone available in NZ, but it has the functionality I wanted -- GPS was the main issue, because I use it for geocaching. Generally, a smartphone is one that has a touch screen, and runs Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7, and possibly Symbian (Nokia only). I use Pre-pay, so I don't have a plan; $20 credit will usually last me 2-5 months, depending on how much texting I do (not much) or data usage (at 50c per MB for the casual rate, or 50MB for $6).

By the way, did you manage to get Diablo III running?

70$ a month for verizon is pretty good. i think you should see if you could stick with verizon on a month to month plan at that price maybe?

There are three types of phones, plain ordinary phones, feature phones, and smart phones, and the price goes up accordingly. With a service like StraightTalk you'll be paying more as you're buying the phone outright rather than having it incorporated into the service price over the life (typically 2 years of a plan).

Now, to phones, what do you need to do with it? Some feature phones will do plenty, i had an LG Lotus and that would play games, surf the web, had a full keyboard, at the time it was plenty for my needs. As to smart phones, likely you'll wind up with Android, and make sure to check the version, my MyTouch 4G had 2.1, the current has around 2.3 or so, and yet the newest is 3.x. Upgrading typically isn't an option, and the lower the version, the limits on what you can do, and its a warning of a rather underpowered phone too.

As far as service goes, I haven't had a problem yet. My only hiccup is the fact that, since it's a pre-paid service, you can't block numbers from calling/texting you. Other than that, I haven't had any problems so far; and I've been with them for about a year now. As for phones, though, you're on your own. I have the $40 one, and that's fine for what I need it for (it has an MP3 player, so I can listen to my tunes while walking; and that's pretty much what I use it for. I make calls/send texts once and a while, but the MP3 player is what I use most).