Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I'm in the market for a new phone and money isn't a limitation. I'm also not partial to any particular US carrier, but here are some of the features I'd like to have: WiFi, GPS, good coverage in lots of places, push Gmail (a must!), physical keyboard (a must!), a touchscreen, decent battery life and a relatively slim body. And please, nothing that has a fruit logo on it. No offense to the fruit fans, though. Thanks!"
You can do this at a store. The no contract option was added to the activation process last week. Reps may not want to do this because they don't get paid on anything but a 2 yr contract activation.
As far as M2M, all plans (contract or no contract) are now eligible for the m2m feature. It's not considered promotional anymore.
Pay per use is going up effective March 1st. Text= .20, Picture= .30