welcome to the world of symbian. In my E71 i have like 93 games and counting.
So with right knowledge u get alot of amazing games and application.

ss2 price now is 1290

Atlantis Communication 0378754800

its depend on ur app..
if u using seven, u receive it when the email come in.
but if ur using app from nokia(i forgot the app name), the phone will refresh every certain hour.

about the effect for the battery im not sure

my opinion is take the grey.
the finger-print is very very noticeable on black steel,

some more the paint on the plastic of grey steel is seem like more advance than black steel,
black steel plastic part is just simple black paint with abit metalic, which hard to notice.
grey steel plastic part is paint by noticeable metalic grey, and then coated with a layer of transparent paint, which make it even more shining.
and the grey steel, the steel got abit Iphone feel. 
(because of black steel didn't paint with this layer of "transparent paint", seem like will scratch easily, make me very worry with it.  )
(just go to Nokia Center have a look, u will know)

but if u are CEO, CFO or high level executive officer, better take black lar,
look more PRO ! 

grey steel user here....getting my second one soon....black one hopefully

as for the lastest firmware it is stated on the front page and garmin previous page i got mention .

im using the latest one. u can off the autorun so that the battery last longer. doesnt drain so much battery la
u need to sync it everytime to get new email,too bad for that . i know blackberry everytime got update. email like sms. lol

Not sync to computer. Enter yr email section there and go option. Choose sync e-mail then all yr new email will show. They dont auto sync for u.

What u mean by yr garmin not working? U got install the maps properly?