moved to general forum

I've been a Sprint customer for 9 years, and I recently purchased an Instinct. I'm frustrated with the touchscreen (finger use) when attempting to click on a link from a web page. I am returning it as soon as the store reopens--- I live in a suburb of New Orleans, and the store has no electricity yet. I love the features of the data plan from Sprint, but the Instinct has got to go. I understand now that the Instinct is not a Smartphone, and I wish to replace it with one.
I have narrowed my choices down to the Touch by HTC, Blackberry Curve 8330, and Blackberry Pearl 8130. I'm reading reviews and getting more confused than ever: will I hate the touchscreen of the Touch?, is the battery life of the Pearl and Touch really that bad?, etc. I want the device to be a nice sounding phone first and foremost, but I will use the Sprint features including email, web browsing, Sprint TV, GPS, etc. I understand the Touch has a Windows OS, and the others don't. Is this a big deal?
I'm coming from an old flip phone, so the Instinct is a great step up, but I need something that works easily. Please give me opinions on these 3 units. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks