Untill they clear up whatever diferences they have with Sanyo I don't think they will have some R$EALY nice phones. But the outlook for 2004 looks VERY good.
LG and Samsung make the best phones Verizon carry. Great battery life and color on their models too. In the 4th quarter JD Powers rated them the top two phones in quality too.
Do any of the cheap w/ contract Verizon phones suport CDMA2000 and have an IR port? I have a Nokia 6340 with Cingular which I use to connect to the web through my Palm Tungsten E via IR, and am looking to switch to Verizon to get the 144kbps connection speed. I am willing to sign a contract, but I don't want to have to pay a lot out of pocket.