The Itoy fails at its most basic function, being a phone. Its more mobile entertainment device then mobile communication device. If my main use of the device was for entertainment I'd buy a damn psp or something. Two years and countless updates and all you have to do is look at their support forums to see they still have major issues with the Iphone.
For your problem coming out of lock just tap the screen to wake it up before unlocking and that should fix your problem. Also watch the angle you are holding the phone at when trying to flip from landscape to portrait or vice versa. If you lay the phone on a table and try to flip it then it won't work as it doesn't know which way you're looking at it from; same concept in your hands.
If you aren't the type who can deal with some bugs I wouldn't recommend buying any first gen form factor with a first gen OS smartphone in the first week it's released. Same rule applies to most products.
Rim will start rolling out OS updates in the next couple of weeks so the Storm will only improve.
This is what most Storms work like
As for bad reviews
A lot of issues I see are user created by people who are too smart to read the manual and/or find the shortcuts. One review, I think it was PC world, and one of the complaints was that she couldn't easily get the number keypad up. If they bothered to figure out how to work their Storm they would have realized that using the numlock shortcut for a few seconds brings it up. In some of the reviews they complained about the hassle of hiding/bringing up the keyboard but a swipe up or down does that. The NYT reviewer actually complained that his touch screen phone didn't have a physical keyboard
; talk about reaching. Another common complaint is that it's not an Iphone
Duh
This phone has a learning curve and 10 minutes in the store or one day of use at home isn't going to cut it.