[manaen]

Hah that is exactly what pushed me to android because I had a TP and was tired to having to tear the phone apart to make it work like it should have from the start. This thing works so much better in all aspects except one..

Look into the syncing of contacts and emails, there is little support for direct syncing to your computer. Things like notes, contacts to outlook, Outlook inbox etc..

I am currently running 2.1 OEM and it is wonderful. Battery life is great, phone works great.

So...
Will you have to root? no
Will your tech junkie side take over and make you root in the future? probably
Does rooting make the phone faster? can't answer that one cause I am not rooted (yet, LOL)..

Good luck and welcome to the world of Android.

Now I am feverishly trying to learn all the SDK's and JAVA tricks to do some programming of my own. Maybe provide some solutions and have some fun..