My first one was a Samsung Galaxy S1 that I got in 2013 and it was a great little device that was easy to open up and repair. It had only 512MB of RAM but that was plenty for basic phone needs, web browsing and running some Android apps like AnkiDroid at the time.
iirc i used my dad’s HTC Magic when i was younger, then i used HTC Wildfire S for some time.
I also started with the HTC Magic. It’s the only phone I’ve used that has a trackball.
Also a HTC Magic, that I bought on release day. Remember the excitement of flashing CyanogenMod on it with TWRP