Which AT&T/iSync-friendly phones don't suck?

[riddle]

I marched into my local AT&T phone store (since Mac-compatible choices for Verizon are so limited) armed with Apple's iSync compatibility list (http://www.apple.com/isync/devices.html) and asked to see what they could give me a good deal on.

The winner was the Sony Ericsson T616, a Bluetooth GSM phone with various bells and whistles and in the basic format I prefer (decent-sized buttons, no clamshell to slow me down). With various rebates and the moon-is-in-the-right-phase deals the phone would cost me just $25.

I was almost sold, but then I read some user reviews at Amazon.com and cnet. The thumbs up beat the thumbs down by about 4 to 1, but they all agreed on two damning conclusions: (1) the screen is completely illegible in the sun and (2) the reception is poor.

So back to the drawing board. Are there any good affordable GSM phones on Apple's list which are known to give decent reception on AT&T's network?

(And for extra points: why can I buy a Handspring Treo 270 with an AT&T contract direct from HAndspring but not from AT&T?)