You must of dropped it from 20 feet up... Getting the cover off for me on the 8830 is hard. I have accidently thrown it across the room and the cover stayed on (dont ask).. My treo on the other hand if it dropped everything would come out... You sure you didnt drop it from 20 feet up into a bucket of water?
Anyways I recommend getting a silicon skin for your new one, I find the BB is slippery to hold without it, so far with the silicon skin I have yet to drop it since its sooo much easier to hold onto, plus you can hardly tell you have a case on.