Turns out...

You can now buy Nokia phones via Dell. So maybe the North American distribution efforts are working out... For off-contract prices they aren't bad. about $420 for an e61i

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=A1152187

Still unless you've already got a blackberry setup and plan on using the blackberry connect client, or plan on using mail for exchange, the built-in imap client is not super awesome. So what do you get for your $400 besides several sometimes indifferent email client choices?

• A decent (good actually) browser based on khtml and kjs from the the konquerer web-browser. The same broswer engine powers safari on macos and the iphone. for something rendering to a 320x240 screen it's generally good. flash support is fairly obsolete, I find it slightly absurd that I'm dependant on proprietary adobe products to the extent that I am but there you are.
  
  
• A sip voip client that generally works pretty well, but only over wifi... You can extend it's functionality with the gizmo project client or fring.
  
  
• A qwerty keyboard that makes the pim apps sms and web browsing genuinely easier.
  

What don't you get?

• A touch screen. They're just better for some apps. At the same time, if it requires giving up the keyboard it's not worth it.
  
  
• Seamless roaming in and out of wifi and cellular connectivity with always on networking.
  
  
• Linux
  
  
• A 3.5mm jack plug. media without headphones is useless. The pop-port can be adapted but at best that's an annoyance.
  

I guess you can see where I'm going with this, or at least where my sensibilities lie. The e series devices make a reasonable stab at being the best phone out there but they come across more as very good phones and less as general purpose computers.