New Phone?

I am in need of a new cell phone. Needs to be Verizon compatible. Can you buy these anywhere (at a decent price) besides Verizon without buying a plan too? I don't want a damn plan -- I have a plan. My battery is messed up -- won't hold a charge. Time for a new phone. This one is a LG -- I don't have a problem with LG -- I've had like 3 LG phones but I hold no loyalty to them. The last phone I really loved (3 phones ago) was a Motorola -- everyone bad mouths those though. Need advice -- where can I get a steal on a good Verizon phone?

Is Apple ever really going to make a phone? Cause if I buy a phone and then the next week Apple finally unveils one -- I'm gonna be pissed.

Edit: I could go with eBay. I'll get a better deal there than I would in a Verizon store. Any recommendations on phones? My only requirements are that it have a color screen, external LCD (if it's a clam), speaker phone and the normal stuff that every phone has. Battery life is important to me. I don't use it for email or web surfing -- just a standard phone. I'm thinking I might want a camera phone so I could post pics here but don't most camera phones suck? Any insight or recommendations are more than welcome...