There are many factors that will determine what kind of Cell Phone you will get, this includes what carrier you are going to select.  Everyone has there ideas on who has the best network, the best phones, and the best customer service.  When it comes down to it, customer service can depend on who you talk to on the phone.  Coverage is dependant on location, weather, network technologies.  Phones are dependant on the carrier's intrest in providing new technology to consumers.  I will not be discussing carriers other than technologies used that will effect what phone you get.

In the United States there are three main technologies in use for cell phones, they are GSM, CDMA, and iDEN.  Verizon, US Cellular, Alltel, Sprint, Cricket, and many other pre-paid carriers are CDMA based networks. Cingular, ATT, and T-Mobile are GSM based networks.  Nextel and Boost Mobile are iDEN based networks.

Knowing what technology your carrier uses is the first thing you have to look at before you can narrow down what phone you will be getting.  The next is obviously price.  The more features the more the phone will cost, manufacturer and market can affect the price as well.

There are many different manufacturers of phones for both markets.  Some include Motorola, LG, Samsung, Sanyo, Treo, RIMM (BlackBerry), and Nokia to name the major brands.  You can normally find a phone for GSM and CDMA technologies by all these manufactureres.  When searching for a phone that works with iDEN your life is simple, Just look for phones made by Motorola.  The technology used in iDEN is exclusively made by Motorola, basically nobody else can make a handset for Nextel Communications, Inc.

What phone you get will be dependant on what you need your phone to be able to do.  There are many options available on phones today, such as camera's, video recorders, bluetooth, touchscreens, mp3 players, expandable memory, internet access, text messaging, picture messaging (MMS Messaging), and others.

For the business person with a CDMA Carrier it might make more sense to get a SmartPhone or Windows Mobile based phone, for example the Motorola Q or Audiovox XV6700.  These phones can do it all, Bluetooth, pictures, video, email, internet, organization, play mp3's, hold additional memory, with the extra convienence of a touch screen and the power of Windows Mobile and of course make phone calls.

The high end phone user might what something similar without all the windows based extra's and extra cost.  They might only want the multimedia capabilities, in which they would purchase a Motorol Razr, Sanyo Katana, Samsung Blade, Motorola i870 or i880. The ease of a phone with all the extra power of multimedia ready phones.

Someone with visual or hearing disablities would need to ensure that they find a phone with a large display that can adapt to there needs or have the most compatible hearing aid functions.  From my experience with hearing aids and phones, a good speakerphone is a must.

Battery life and reciever sensitivity are very important aswell.  A phone that has good reciever sensitivity will normally have a good battery life because the phone doesn't have to try as hard to maintain a good connection with the cell tower.  Reciever sensitivity is how well the phone can hear the signal coming from the carrier's tower.  A better reciever sensitivity can mean being able to make calls or send text messages where normally you might not be able to with a different phone.  Text messages normally can be sent with a weaker signal because they require less bandwith to send to the network.

Battery is very important aswell because some phones have excellent standby time but horrible talk time.  These numbers are important to pay attention to when considering which phone to get.  When you are looking on most new phone is will tell you the talk to standby ratio that they use to come up with the numbers.  Some of the newer mp3 player phones will include a time that tells you how long you can listen to music, talk, and standby.

So down to it, what kind of phone is best for me?  The answer is simple but the solution might not be as easy, hopefully I can help with that.

When you are looking for the phone keep in mind that you need to know what technology the carrier is using, CDMA, GSM, or iDEN.  Then establish what features you want in the phone, once you do that, you can begin looking at your price range.  You can expect to pay more for a phone with everything than if you look for a phone with certain features.

In the end your selection comes down to personal preference.  I would hope that this guide has helped you in some way in finding what phone you get.  If you have any questions or need help with your selection please feel free to ask.