First of all, thanks to everyone for offering their perspectives and opinions. It really helped sharpen my thinking. nkedel's points, esp. with respect to capacitive touchscreens were a good reminder of what I needed to think about.
Originally Posted by
raph
If you go to England or Switzerland (or know somebody there, or are willing to buy on ebay) get the Orange San Francisco aka. ZTE Blade
All that for the killer price of 99.99 GBP (~US$157) or even 119 CHF (~US$132) on prepay. It can be unlocked for free.
I already brought three of them for friends in Germany (and one for myself) - in terms of value for money, it's unbeatable.
Thanks for this specific recommendation. As it happens I do have colleagues who travel to Switzerland on a regular basis, so this may be an option for me. Do I just ask them to have the vendor (Orange) unlock the phone at time of purchase? Do they need to buy a prepaid (or other) SIM at the same time and activate it?