Any recommendations for a cheap sim-free phone that will sync contacts with gmail? An otherwise simple and robust phone would be ideal.

Cheers

Edit: Just to clarify, I mean sync over the air rather than using some crappy software on a PC

I could do this on my Nokia phones (last was a 5800). Was a bit more involved than setting it up on my Android phone but still fairly easy. You use the exchange client but don't sync calendar or email, just contacts.

Made my move to Android much easier as my contacts were already in GMail

If you look at the Google Sync website, you'll see that even basic phones with syncml can sync over the air. For example, Nokia 6303.

Just get a cheap android. Some people on here rave about the Orange San Francisco