Coming from Windows Mobile

Was at one point a Windows Mobile guru. So much so I was flashing my device every couple of days with the next "new thing" or optimization. Created OEM's and was short of making my own ROMS. I thought of myself as a power user.

I have grown since then and now I'm looking to settle down with something a tid bit less hectic and a whole lot more stable. I also hear that BB's have stellar battery life. I'm very picky about smartphone functionality. So, I'm wondering if any of you can enlighten me as to what is it exactly that makes it a crackberry.

Here are also some functionality that I'm unclear of:

1. Will I be able to read Arabic text (right to left) and type it? How would I type it?
2. Do apps have access to the earpiece for localized call screening and perhaps even an answering machine? VOIP calls?
3. Magicall a program for windows mobile is an extremely advanced call screening app with calling card capabilities. Would I be able to find a similar app?
4. What's all this hype about blackberry email? Does it mean I can take any email address I have (@gmail) and have it push out email?
5. Is blackberry good on all the audio and video codecs? Howabout advanced multimedia players (resume playback, bookmarks within files, etc)

Thanks in advance and please excuse my initial ignorance. I'm a very quick learner and look forward to learning more.

Hey Sager, welcome.
I'm formerly a Treo 650 user and then on to a Curve. Unfortunately, number of posts has nothing to do with knowing anything. So I can only speak to your number 4 question.

I have a gmail email as well, I have a blackberry BIS account and push my gmail through that. It's instant for me on the Verizon network. It's also possible to do this through Outlook (which I assume you once used being a Windows Mobile user). There is also a free "Google Sync" application for the calendar.