Droid Eris-Not Happy With Texting-Any suggestions?

I had an LG Dare which I was quite happy with. I wanted an IPhone, but I did not want to change carriers so I waited for Droid launch. I got the Eris today. I am not happy with the message entering on the phone.

I really wish they had the T9 word complete feature on these phones (the feature where you had three letters assigned to one number on the keypad and used predictive). I do not like sending text messages/writing messages on this phone. My fingers are too large and it is not as easy to text from this phone as it was from my dare and my previous two phones.

Is there anything I can do? If not, which Smart phones have that feature? Does Blackberry have that means of entering text? Any assistance would be appreciated.

You have 30 days to switch out the phone. Take a look at the BlackBerry Storm2. BlackBerry has a word complete feature that you will probably like. My regular phone is a Storm1 and I can type faster on the Storm2. I reviewed the phone here:
BlackBerry Storm 2 Review

Thanks! My GF has that phone and is happy with it. I tried it and it seemed a little laggy.
I actually have gotten somewhat used to texting with the Eris, but I may switch it out for the Motorola Droid tomorrow. I didn't realize how much I would want a keyboard when using a smart phone. I had never used a keyboard much before.
If only the Eris were the size of the Storm, I may not have any problems using a touch screen keyboard, but my fingers are too big with the Eris.

Hello there! go to your message settings and see if one of the options is iTap ..english or spanish. It is basically the same thing as predictive text, I used to have the LG shine, and i flew through sending a message, it was great. Now i have a phone with a keyboard and texting is not as easy...but see if it has that option and u will love it!! hope it helped!