Ramsey interferometry allows the estimation of the phase of rotation of the pseudospin vector of an ensemble of two-state quantum systems. For small, the noise-to-signal ratio scales as the spin-squeezing parameter ξ, with ξ<1 possible for an entangled ensemble. However states with minimum ξ are not optimal for single-shot measurements of an arbitrary phase. We define a phase-squeezing parameter, ζ, which is an appropriate figure of merit for this case. We show that (unlike the states that minimize ξ) the states that minimize ζ can be created by evolving an unentangled state (coherent spin state) by the well known two-axis counter-twisting Hamiltonian. We analyse these and other states (for example the maximally entangled state, analogous to the optical 'NOON' state ) using several different properties, including ξ, ζ, the coefficients in the pseudo-angular momentum basis (in the three primary directions) and the angular Wigner function W(θ,). Finally, we discuss the experimental options for creating phase-squeezed states and doing single-shot phase estimation.