I rocked a Samsung Alias 2 for 4 years before I got an iPhone 5. The e-ink keyboard was awesome how it changed when you flipped the screen open to portrait or landscape.
I was late to the cell phone game and never got a “nice” dumb phone. I had a crappy TracFone. Reception was okay. Texting was torture. Bought an HTC Droid around 2010-2011 and never looked back.