Most of the phones you can have fun with, i.e. install custom roms, are HTC devices. XDA is pretty good at figuring out how to get into boot mode and from there its just a matter of time. I've not a heard a thing about any of that for the 800w. Its a shame.
Install Keylight found
here.
Then follow the instructions in this link
here to assign functions to a single press of the side button.
Keylight allows you to turn the backlight for the keyboard off and on regardless of whether the screen backlight is off or on. Mapping keylight to activate on a single press of the side button is a very simple way to turn the keyboard light on and off. Just a little bit more to save battery life.
Oh, and check out
GPS Tool. Its a small app that turn your GPS radio on and off to conserve even more battery life.
Hope those work out for ya, and be sure to check the registy tweaking thread. There's a ton of stuff in there.