What I usually do is read loads of reviews before buying anything. In certain cases, the reviews say to go against something, but I still buy it. The Nokia 8800 is a perfect example. I only bought it because I'm totally in love with it. Moral of the story is that most of the time the reviews give a good complete picture of the things you're going to buy. Only if you feel you are a 100% certain about what it is you want and are certain you won't regret what you buy, should you trust your own judgement (solely).
Basically what you need to do is prioritise. What is it you want from the phone besides the must haves. Must haves being: Calling and SMS'ing.
Do you want it to serve as a camera? Are you satisfied with so so MP quality? Do you want it to serve as your MP3 player? Do you want it to just look nifty? Ease of use? Etc etc.
I usually read review for phones on CNet and
http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/. These guys are good.
I read the L6 review and frankly, despite it being an outstanding phone, I don't like the fact it only has 10MB memory space, you contacts and mailbox will take up half of that. Which leaves little room for MP3 ringtones and such. ( I don't know if it has themes, must have it.) Another thing I don't like about the phone (from the looks) is the keypad. The RAZR has the same keypad and it honestly annoys me. That's just me though.
I read the L7 review and basically it's the L6 but with exandable memory and MP3 playing capabilities. They should've just done that with the L6 but whatever. I'd suggest this one over the L6, the L6 is so basic, if you're paying a price as we now days do, pay for a "complete" phone. If you forget your MP3 player at home, you've still got music with you. Always a plus for a few bucks more.
So basically my opinion is Sony Walkman series > L7 but the L7 >> the L6.
Then it just comes down to preferance between the W series and the L7. I'm not a fan of Motorola, the designs don't speak to me and I've never been attracted to them. The W series isn't exactly eye candy either, but the looks don't annoy me as much as the Moto phones do. As I said, after that it just comes down to preferance.
The more I look at the W950i, the more I fall in love. Anyone want to buy a Nokia 8800?
(Not in your life.)