Well, I'm one of the few (at least among people talking on the web) that really likes the phone. Here's my list of anti-complaints:
1. Materials - It feels a lot better than I thought it would. The white areas are glossy and smooth, but not iPod smooth, so you don't see fingerprints and every little scratch. The phone itself "rings" a little when you hit it, kinda like a tuning fork, but I think that might have to do with improving sound quality from the speakers and such - but I'm no acoustic engineering, so not sure.
2. Sound - The speakers just about match the sound quality from my Powerbook G4 (or thereabouts), and the headphones are good enough. The biggest thing lacking I think is an equalizer - I personally don't like the sound of a flat EQ on my iPod, so I think an equalizer may help improve the sound, especially high and low tones.
3. 'Syncing' Music - Okay, yeah, this part kinda sucks. Its no iPod, no USB 2.0, etc. But drag and drop to the phone is pretty easy, and just like the iPod, there's a preferences menu for it (click on the little iPod icon in iTunes just under the Autofill area). Interestingly, there's a slider here that lets you pick how much of the memory card goes toward songs, and how much is reserved for data. Right now I can slide the data side all the way to 100 MB without the song count dipping lower than 100. Obviously, this feature is for future phones with less than 512MB of memory for iTunes - or even better, future versions of iTunes mobile. The song cap is obviously artificial, and even the E1's manual lists a couple websites to visit "for more information about being able to store more music in iTunes on your phone" after the part about using iTMS, syncing music, etc.
On the up side though, you do get ratings and maybe play count (not sure about that one) to sync, so that does beat the shuffle...
4. Bluetooth - Even though you can't use Bluetooth to listen to the music on a headset (or in a car), or transfer iTunes songs over to phone (you can transfer files not using iTunes), the Bluetooth features do work well - syncing address book and iCal is pretty easy, and set up with my Prius' hands-free system was painless.
5. Phone features - The call quality is good, the interface isn't nearly as painful as some make it out to be (reorder your Main Menu, and read the manual). Having a mic on the headphones is a good touch to mix iTunes and calls. The little joystick thing is handy, much nicer than the up/down buttons on other phones, which would make iTunes very hard to use. Also, iTunes works either in the traditional iPod-like interface, or out at the main screen of the phone, making getting between iTunes and other features easier. The camera isn't great, but its a phone, and even though there are better phone cameras, but I have a Sony M1, so no phone camera could beat the 5.1 MP still and MPEG-4 video.
Overall, since my old phone is a does-nothing-but-call-and-barely-does-GPRS Nokia, and my 3G iPod's dead battery has turned it into my car's jukebox, this phone does what I need it to do, and does it well enough. Would I love some more songs on it, or Firewire connections, or a processor fast enough for WoW Mobile, yes. But, for what it is, it works. Other phones may be better, but this is the only one that will play my iTunes songs.