Yeah, the more I look into this, the more I'm certain the Nexus S is the right choice, even if I have to settle for the non-4G variant so I can defect to T-Mobile.

I've always preferred physical keyboards, but none of the other Android phones in Sprint's lineup are a good fit. Either they're too bulky, too outdated firmware-wise, or bloated with crap. I'm actually pretty nervous about moving to a phone without a real keyboard, but hopefully I can adjust. If the Cyanogen mod was farther along for the Epic 4G or Shift 4G phones, I might give those a closer look.

The other thing I'll really miss from my Pre is the Touchstone charging. It's so elegant and simple, and works perfectly as a car mount for GPS usage. The Nexus S car mounts I've seen look flimsy and crappy, and obviously don't charge the phone without plugging in a cable. I'm frankly shocked that other manufacturers haven't licensed this tech from HP or integrated something similar -- it's such a nice thing to have. It looks like some modders have found ways to hack Touchstone charging into the Nexus S, but the results look very amateur-ish, and the mods aren't the kind of thing you get done in half an hour.

I've got an email conversation going with a Sprint rep now who's trying to put together an offer to keep me from leaving for T-Mobile. I did find out that I only had an 8% corporate discount on my account when apparently I'm eligible for 18% now, so maybe that'll make up some of the distance.