That is exactly what I was looking for actually! Great job!
So since I'm on the wap I can't see what carrier you have, but I know all the pearls now have 4.5.0.xx available to upgrade to. I would head over to the Pearl forums and find the correct OS (operating system) for your phone, read the simple instructions, and perform the upgrade on your device. It should help with some of your issues, if not all of them as they sound software related to me.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com