Annoying Predictive Text Issues

Hi All,
I have my new droid and am pretty happy with it -except that my predictive text seems to only suggest words using the first letter of each T9 key. For example, if I want to spell the word 'be' I hit 2 to get a 'b'and 3 to get an 'e'. However, it only suggests words beginning with 'a'. I have to do a long hold on the 2 key to get a 'b' before it will make suggestions beginning with 'b'. It takes ages to type out simple words like 'be' or 'if'.

Anyone got any suggestions?