The future's definitely not Orange..

Okay, I am looking for some advice - basically I got sick and tired of Orange as a mobile phone provider and have (finally) handed in my notice.. their bills were extortion delivered in an envelope every month and their coverage left a lot to be desired too.. (for me personally anyway).
So...
I am looking for a new mobile, and have 29 days left to find one (think of this like a very drawn out episode of Keifer Sutherland's 24 if you will) and am looking for advice on Mobile providers (probably O2, T-Mobile or (and it pains me to fucking say this) Vodafone).. No, I'm not considering 3 at all their adverts have pissed me off - they are just so fucking lame. I mean come on a huge Jelly Fish that glows when fed Coca-Cola and a Cherry that sings "If you leave me now"? Please.

So does anyone know of a good tariff of these with a reasonable amount of Off-Peak minutes and a huge amount of texts (at least 100 included a month) that's not going to rape my bank account every month?

Also, what phones are cool at the moment? I used to be quite up on makes and models of handsets (and I coveted my Nokia 7250i for some time before I actually got one) but now I have no clue as to which one's are good or not. I have had a Nokia (of one type or another) for over four years now, but have heard rumours that they are no longer the bee's knees when it comes to mobiles.. So who are? Sony Ericsson? Sagem? Siemens? I have no clue! I will get my arse to Carphone Warehouse or The Link at some point, but would welcome any recommendations as to what is cool at the moment (I still like my gadgets, see?).

Please help! I don't want to be confused for the next 29 days!

Cheers