There is a registry switch that turns that screen on. I went to the Sprint store when I was having my mini SD issues (stupid card) and noticed that the display model 6700 (with an older ROM might I add) had the screen and my top of the line, super updated phone did not. Of course the guy there told me it may have conflicted with something and therefore been removed. (aka, I don't know why it isn't there). So I happened to come across the reg edit on a forum somewhere later on that week and volia its back in all of its glory. So hopefully when I refind it, we can have it added to the registry thread so when I hard reset yet again, I will know where to look.
No problem, I hate feeling that my phone can't do something that someone elses can. (My fiance's "normal" phone speaks when she gets a text, call, voice mail... ie. "You have a text message from John Doe" with no voice training needed...bugs me!!)