well, i'm not sure how helpful this will be but i actually picked up the hero on friday the 9th (best buy reward zone pre release) and returned it on saturday the 10th. obviously, this was not a thorough test, but i was able to determine very quickly that i could not do without the hardware keyboard, and i tried! i even found replacement apps for android to replace what i need/use most in winmo, kept trying to improve my accuracy with the software keyboard, and kept wavering back and forth. from what i could find, orb is only supported by the browser (which makes it nearly impossible to use. . . also found a program called Androrb which is no better) and is a must for me, also fired up sprint navigation and it had a pretty good delay as in the past. These few other issues could have possibly been overlooked had i had better luck with the software keyboard, but i was not willing to give up everything for the admittedly very cool / and fast OS. others will say that i did not give the phone a fair run, and i would agree for the most part. however, it's one of those things you just know immediately, and that phone wasn't for me.
on the other hand, the samsung moment with android and hardware keyboard is coming next month, so that may be something to look into. . . for me, love it or hate it, i'm apparently a winmo guy and will be looking for the touch pro 2 (i'd consider the leo if it comes even though it lacks the hardware keyboard, because it has everything else i want/need) this was probably no help. . .
