At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"

[pufftissue]

Hi guys,

It's been a week with the HTC Touch and I think that I need a keyboard.

Here is what I've done so far:
1. Tried the standard HTC keyboard, Touchpal, and the HTC Diamond keyboard. While all have their merits and demerits, I just can't seem to get good at it. Predictive input, straight up no prediction, 2 letters to a button layout, full layout, nothing.
2. Read the Touchpal manual. I'm pretty sure that I'm using it correctly.
3. Tried to tell myself "Hey, it's never going to be as fast as a real keyboard, but I'm carrying around a tiny phone that is otherwise great in every respect that I need it to be (save wifi)."


My question:

1. Given my background (Treos for the last 4 years) + the fact that I will audaciously say that I am a darn fast thumb typer, am I just going to need to get a real keyboard or should I give ti more time with the software keyboards?
2. You should also know that my friend has a Mogul and turning it to the side everytime you want to fire off a message isn't a huge deal, but it is awkward to me b/c I feel like it's a full contact sport. I've got to use the d-pad to navigate with my left hand and then there are other buttons to learn; it almost seems excessive b/c I don't know if I should just touch the screen or use one of the 63 buttons to accomplish my task.
3. I also had access to an iPhone (I'll never buy one b/c I can't stand Apple's reality distortion field) and I absolutely could not get used to the keyboard. I had a friend who had an iphone, two of them actually, and we each typed a text message of like 130 characters--me on my treo 700wx and them two on their iphones. I finished in half the time it took both of them. They were not newbies either.