Agreed... my Desire is currently almost 2 years old and I'm getting a contract renewal in a month, and I have no idea what phone to get: there are no smartphone

Agreed... my Desire is currently almost 2 years old and I'm getting a contract renewal in a month, and I have no idea what phone to get: there are no smartphones with proper hardware buttons on the market anymore, save for a few SE handsets; it's all in useless capacitive buttons now, or none at all since ICS.