I think TIME will resolve alot of your issues
You are used to your previous device and with time, once you familiar yourself with the Diamond, I think you will enjoy it more than you do now. You need time to "play" with the Diamond to figure out its hidden secrets
and to learn its operating system. Check out the ROM and Radio version to see what versions are installed on your Diamond and make sure they are up to date. The stock ROM should start with 2.00 and the stock Radio should be 1.11The updated versions make a huge difference in regards to smoothing out the operating system and increasing the battery life tremendously.
Oh yeah, regarding picturemail, see if there is a setting where you can tick a box so it does not run automatically on start up.