I find flip phones awkward to use with one hand (perhaps lack of practice) and typically too small for my fingers.

I like my G1, but have on occasion ass-dialed people because of button location. If I think that's likely (depending on where I'm carrying the phone at the time), I set the phone to require a pattern be drawn to unlock it. The pattern I use is simple enough to draw with my thumb, so it's easy to grab the phone, unlock, and use with one hand, (mostly) without looking.

Strange. I extract the phone from my pocket by grasping the thin side (which does not have buttons) and have never pressed a button accidentally.

The "red button to hang up locked phone during incoming call" could be considered bad design... but I guess you want to shut the ringtone off quickly if you are in a quiet place. (My phone is set to go to vibrate as soon as I leave my house. So this is not a problem for me... but neither is accidentally hanging up.)

I use a lot of tactile clues. Probably that's because I'm clumsy and don't see well, especially if I was asleep prior to the ringing.

I've used an iPhone, and it's frustrating that I can't easily tell which end is up or silence the ringer (not hang up the call) without pulling the thing out of my pocket.

Get a Sony Ericsson Walkman W980. You can even write your own apps for it with Java2ME with no "app store" bureaucracy.

You can certainly writw apps for android phones without publishing them to the app store. In fact, unlike the iphone, you're free to distribute your app to as many people as you want (e.g. from your own web site).

That's what I was saying: programability doesn't need to come with a bad UI.

Me, personally, I would take an Android over a closed-platform anyday, but the Sony Ericsson line of phones I found very use-friendly, beautiful and powerful (don't know how much they cost, since I get them as free promo units.)