Well, I own a Galaxy Note II currently.
It is like ultimate smart phone by far.
I can play HD games smoothly, no lagging.
The video are crystal clear.
And thanks to the OS, I can freely customized its look without the need to jailbreak it like that brand with bitten fruit as logo.
Better go with Android if you go with Smart phone.
It is highly customizeable.
For that price range you want, well droid series by motorola and HTC are about $ 99.9 with one year contract on Verizon.
Pretty decent if you just want a smartphone that works.
Without the extra fancy things.