I did indeed! It took years!!!!
But along the way I learnt quite a bit about many handsets.
Of course, one's choice all depends on one's circumstances,
as well as tastes. Some like one brand more than another, some love Apple, others don't, etc...
If I had had an unlimited budget and 20/20 vision, I would probably have gone for an HTC One.
However, on my limited budget and dodgy vision I went for a cheaper phone with a much larger screen: Galaxy Mega.
I did my homework by looking at literally hundreds of tariffs. I discovered that they varied wildly - even the same retailer sometimes would sell the SAME phone with the SAME carrier with the SAME allowance but the price would vary: sometimes by up to £200 over a 2 year contract!
I also discovered that the Mega was for some reason placed in the same monthly price bracket as much more expensive phones like the S4, even though the Mega was much cheaper to buy outright.
I worked out that, for example, for the same money that 3 would have sold me a Mega on the cheapest 24 month contract, I could buy one Galaxy Mega, put the same amount in a savings account for a replacement in two years time and still have £6.50 to put towards the monthly cost of calls. I don't use a huge amount, I am on PAYG, so I reckon £10 a month will suffice.
I bought my SIM-free UK Galaxy Mega for £276 from Amazon. CPW sell them for £440.