I know that it isn't up to the level of Maemo for multitasking, but I thought that they had at least made task switching a little easier in ICS, which on a practical level can make "multitasking" a better experience.

Blackberries have good email, but the screens on the good ones are all too small to do much of the other things I'd like to do with my phone. That might change with BB10, the Playbook OS I think is fairly nice the little bit I've used it, but I'm not sure I can wait until the end of the year when the new BB are supposed to be released.

As for getting a cheap Android and a N9, that would mean either two data plans, or switching SIM cards all the time (and doesn't the N9 have a different size simcard?)