I need a new cellphone...badly. I'm with AT&T, and have been for over a decade. My contract with AT&T will not expire until March, and I don't know if I'm willing to wait that long to consider other carriers. My current phone is an outdated Nokia flip-style phone, which no longer holds a battery charge. I've tried replacing the battery to no avail. I just became eligible for a phone upgrade this month, so I have a list of phones that I can choose from at a discounted price. Problem is...I am totally clueless on Smartphones. I'm not even really sure that I need a Smartphone. At the very least, I would like a phone that is more text-friendly than the one I have now. I currently don't even have a text package on my plan, but it is something that I would like to get with my new phone. My sister (who is ill with cancer) and both of her daughters communicate primarily by texting...so I feel like I should move into the current century by getting a phone with a text package so that I can more easily communicate with my sister if she needs me for something. This is where I'm torn...do I get just a text-friendly phone with one of those slide-out QWERTY keyboards? Or do I go full-blown Smartphone? I'm not too keen on shelling out the $70 or so a month, for a data plan...especially if I know that I won't be using the internet features all that much. There are so many phones out there to choose from...it's dizzying! I have no idea which phones are better than others. I keep seeing the commercials on tv for that new AT&T Impulse 4G for 29.99 (Best Buy has it for $1) which seems like a great deal...but I've read some not-so-stellar reviews on it, so now I'm hesitating. Can anyone here offer up some good recommendations on a new AT&T phone? Or at the very least, some tips on what I should be looking for in a new phone? Decent battery life is one of the more important points for me, but other than that I really don't know what to look for. THANKS!!

Linda