Honestly, I know you said you want to stick with Verizon but, we dumped them. As far as customer service, phone reception, and random bs charges, we went with AT&T and couldn't be happier. No stupid extra fees like Verizon, the bill is almost always the same and easy to understand, and customer service is actually useful. Anyhow, enough of that and on to the original point...
Out of all those I'm an iPhone fan. Between the two of us we've had all the versions and currently both have iPhone 4's. I love it. I honestly almost never use my laptop anymore. I'm always just on my phone. Works great as an iPod, and, if you have a Bluetooth capable car radio, you can stream Bluetooth music so no wires
Battery life isn't horrible for what you get, it really all depends on what you're doing with it. Basically, I'm on it a good portion o the day, I plug it in overnight, and whenever I'm in the car. Not inconvenient to me and covers what I do.
As for app cost there's tons and tons of free apps. I think I may have actually paid for two or three and never more than $.99, and I have up near 100 apps.
I don't have, nor have I had, any of the other phones you mentioned, but, from my experiences with friends and coworkers (and trust me, all the girls at work love having the latest greatest phone lol) it seems that at least 3/4 of the people who had/have droids regretted it and either want, or already have, switched to an iPhone.
Just my .02
Oh, and bananas
