Good Mobile Phone?

I'm just swamped by the enormous number of choices, to the point that
I'm almost ready to just keep using my cruddy old LG phone until the
market sorts out a bit more. I did not like the new LG phones, mainly
because they're not compatible with anything, and a Motorala
Vsomethingorother that I had just stopped working. I'm not willing to
spend a couple of hundred bucks on a phone in this market, and I just
want a good basic phone with good voice quality (so you can actually
hear it in the hallway) and some compatibility with Mac OS (definitely
not LG, in other words). I also don't want to complicate my Verizon
family plan by starting a new contract, so just want to buy a phone
that's either unlocked or at least compatible with Verizon. Any
suggestions?