Good question, you may be aware of most of this but as the thread has a good title …
On price decide if want an “/e/OS learner” phone or … more expensive.
When looking for a suitable phone use the Supported devices page and explore the search options (first time preferably on a PC sized screen !).
In the Search area:
Search by vendor, device , OS version, release year in supported devices
be aware of the options to Sort by Release Year and Display size.
See also Search options, where you can highlight characteristics of significance to you.
If you can start to get a number of suitable devices in mind, you can try to Search the forum for those devices (do users seem to find them trouble free ?) and search the markets to see if you can find one.
Feel free to ask about a specific shortlist here.