My wife's Palm Treo has died (after bing dropped for the umpteenth time) so she needs a replacement.

The fundamental requirement is a phone which will synchronise contacts and calendar with Evolution or Thunderbird/Lightning.

So what's the best way to go nowadays?

We'd prefer direct phone <--> desktop synchonization but I suppose it's not absolutely vital. However I'm happy enough to install a sync server of some sort (though my experience with Funambol was not an entirely happy one when I was trying the same with my Nokia E71 a year or so ago).