you must be having some terrible luck with your bb! i had a pearl for 1.5 years and i was supppeeerrr happy with it! the trackball did stop working for a while, but i got that fixed by my service provider (vodafone) for no extra cost! and this was after the warranty was over. the default side buttons are set to voice dialling and camera so you must be pressing it or it might be getting pressed. that's not a big deal?

maybe you are a bit rough on your bb.. shame, i loved my pearl when i had it!