[mothered]

If you're on a tight budget, I would recommend the LG G3 (about 50-60$ on ebay)
Great screen, nice button placement (on the back), and good resolution. Only drawback is the batteries. You might have to purchase extras.

As a matter of Interest, on average usage, what's the battery life?

Maybe 5 hours?
I had to purchase 2 extra batteries so I could swap it out throughout the day

That's a terrible battery life, or should I say, lack of.

It reminds me of my old NEC P5. I also had two batteries- the smaller lasted an hour (standby) and the larger double that.