Which cell phone device is best for emails, calls in France and Italy?

First, for calls you will need a GSM phone. AT&T and T-mobile have GSM phones. There are also a couple of models of Blackberry from Verizon that are GSM-compatible, but you apparently aren't considering them. For email, you're best off accessing email in a wifi area, with your phone set in airplane mode. Data usage can be extremely expensive. And if we are voting, I'm a Droid girl. The vast majority of Droid apps are free.

Crystal, check out the message thread in this forum titled, "Cell Phone, IPhone."
I personally am partial to Android phones.

Crystal, As the others have mentioned, whichever phone you choose will need to be a quad-band GSM model for voice & text, and have the appropriate bands for data. Most of the current phones in all three platforms fit that criteria. I agree with Nancy that it would be a good idea to switch off the data portion of the phone and access E-mail or web browsing ONLY in Wi-Fi areas. The cost of data roaming is extremely HIGH, and unless your employer is willing to pick up the bill, this is a definite concern. One option you could look at is to purchase the "Travel Packs" offered by AT&T, which will reduce the costs of voice as well as allow a small amount of data access. I believe these packs can be cancelled when you return home (check with AT&T for details). One benefit of using the travel packs, is that you would be able to travel with your home number, so calls would be much easier for your contacts. They would simply dial your number and the network will find you where ever you are at the time. There is a disadvantage to that however - some of your contacts may not consider the time difference, so you could be receiving calls at 03:00! I tend to prefer the iPhone., although I don't have one yet. I've been using an iPod Touch for several years, and it's basically like an iPhone but without the phone portion. Some of the App's I've been using are excellent! Will you be travelling with a Netbook or Laptop also? Another option would be to call using Skype. PennyTalk does appear to offer calling from Europe. Check the "Travelling Overseas" link on their home page. Be sure to check that the Phone Charger is designed for "world operation", and don't forget Plug Adapters. Happy travels!

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I just signed up with AT&T for the iPhone. Learned they have an international plan you can buy one month at a time. They said callls from/to France or Italy is .99 a minutes. Sounds like Pennytalk won't work with this thing. Next up the adaptor, thanks again!

The best for us what e-mail at the hotels.