I don´t think they really dropped the d-pad completly. At least some kind of cursor keys should be there. If it´s really not there then the Hildon developers and the Modest developers are developing using a false asumption.

http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail//ma...ay/054991.html

In short this this thread tells you, that if you use a text view inside a pannable area (scroll with fingers) you cannot select text using your fingers or stylus. Thus you´ll have to use the keyboard to select text.
Now, how do you select text using a keyboard without some kind of cursor keys???