As someone that is fine with rooting and fiddling with ROMs, I'll genuinely buy any well made phone, right now I'm using a Galaxy SIII which is smooth as butter using SentinelROM and very good standby battery, very happy with it.
The next time I'm due for an upgrade is around the time a Nexus device would usually come out, so I might get one of those next year. We'll see!
edit: I also don't mind the plastic feel of Samsung phones, they are still very durable and besides, I always put thin hard shells on the back of my phones. I use an Incipio feather one right now and it feels great.
One thing I won't be doing again is buying white phones, I replaced the front of my S3 with a black frame after a big drop (minimal damage, but I couldn't un-notice the scratch) and it looks so much better.