the kyocera's aren't bad phones, just really value centric... most of the problems people have with them are because they tend to be a little more fragile due to the cost cutting methoRAB (weak hinges and flex cables are the root cause of most problems people have.) if you don't abuse the phone you should be fine.
according to my rep at cricket, the return / failure rate is approximately the same for all the phones, you can spend 350 on the krzr or 100 for the ut starcom 7025 and you still have about the same percentage chance of having to return it under the warranty. you tend to hear about more problems with the cheaper phones simply because more people have them.