*If* that is your niche. I use to have a blackberry curve, and typed very quickly on it. I can type just as fast on my X with swype. It comes down to preference and each persons abilities that decides which they will be more productive on. For me the massive screen increases my productivity far more than a physical keyboard ever did.
What made things easier for me was the ability to type without having to look down and also the short cut keys. Being able to assign any letter to launch any program you want made things better and less of a reason to have them on the home screen.
Did not know you could preset keys to open apps, I will look into it on my dads PRO.
As far as speed goes on the PRO, it seems pretty stable. Ive fooled around with my dads Droid Pro, and Im unable to get the thing to ever hang up on me...Ive been into the Droid scene since the day of release for the D1. Im on a D2 right now, and compared to my phone, the Pro definetly compares.