you can buy it from a lot of online stores and also ebay. and since you are in LA there is plenty of places in chinatown and generally areas with chinese mobile shops that you can buy it from..

and i did get it checked and the shop said there wasnt anything they could do.. the best explaination i have for sony is that mine was one of the first ones out so if you got it later they might have used a different hardware

and in terms of camera phones... i have cameras phones that is no where near as expensive and they take better pictures. im not sure if you use a lot of other phones thats sold only in asia such as pantech.. but in terms of price and and quality. a lot of other ones are better and cheaper

againest the pearl.. i think p990i is better.. but it depends on you really want from your phone.. do you really need a pda type phone.. or would simply functions be enough