I think this phone is good. If people got the Ally and we're hoping for power and speed well they thought wrong.
Me personally used to experience all the lag and force closes when i first got the Ally (pre-ordered it).
But ever since i found out how to root the phone, flash custom recoveries, flash custom rom's/kernels they have made it such a better phone.
I have never had problems sending texts and i use the default messaging app. My keyboard has also never done the above but i have heard of experiences from other people. 7
If you find your homescreenn too laggy and not ready to plunge into rooting and custom roms. Give Launcherpro or ADW Launcher a try. Those are just two of quite a few third party launchers available in the market.