I know, it’s weird for a 21 year old college student not to know much about cell phones.
But I didn’t even own one till a few years ago, and then my Dad switched me onto his plan but the phone I have now is a certifiable POS. Although to its credit, it did survive a stream-fording in very cold water, only to dry out later and recover its voice. However, I think my Dad is planning on getting new phones since both his and my batteries are dying, and the girl at the Cingular/ATT store told him that if we were to buy new batteries, we might as well get new phones instead cause batteries for old phones would be almost as expensive as new phones.
Plus the Cingular/ATT service sucks in my current neck of the woods (Western NY).

Any suggestions for relatively cheap (sub-50.00) phones with good battery life, good reception, good features (including a USEFUL organizer/alarm clock/calender system?). The reason I stress the usefulness of these features is that on our current phones, they’re crap. I hate this phone with all my heart. Not gonna lie.

BTW, cameras, email, internet access, etc etc. are all a moot point to me. I already have a better camera than I could ever get on a phone, and my Dad would never pay (nor let me pay) for Internet access. Texting capability is also not necessary as I find it rude to give or receive a message only to be charged for it separately.

Thank you all for your suggestions in advance.

PMZ