With ICS devices just coming out now, it seems like an awful time to buy a 2.x android device with a hw keyboard, hoping it gets upgraded. ICS has virtual on screen buttons that reorient themselves with the screen, making hardware buttons on the screen an ugly and pointless waste of screen real-estate.

Though I haven't seen anything announced, if you are going to go android with a hw keyboard, I think it's worth waiting for the next generation which may also include the tegra III chip. There may not be a hw keyboard in the next batch, but it sounds like flagship devices are going tegra III (quad core) to boot.