Poor reception for T830

I have had this T830 for about a week now. I noticed couple problems that were really bothersome: 1. It has very low senstivity for phone signals. A regular cell phone side by side (for Cingular) shows at least 1-2 bars better. 2. The PDA phone hang frequently, and the only way to reset the PDA is to pop the battery cover open, a pain in the neck since there is no opening or external reset. My Dell x51v PDA (or any other PDA) offers much easier way to reset the device. 3. There should be some way to guarantee the phone operation, even if the PDA function is dead. 4. There is no convenient volume control via buttons anywhere, and I have to use the stylis to adjust the volume. 5. Not quite sure if the time is automatically synchronized with the phone company. It did not appear to be. 6. No LED flash for the camera. 7. the 4 way navigation button, as well as the jog thing on the side jumps over way too many items in the calendar window. I cannot use the navigation buttn or jog to smoothly go from one appointment to the next. I already upgraded to the firmware image version 812 EMP7078, but it did not improve performance of the phone at all. I am in the San Francisco Bay Area.