well it's after the first of the month and nothing really changed. Still receive 1x signal, tower hasn't upgraded to EVDO. As for accidentally pressing mute on the screen, it's not possible for me because I have a Speck heavy duty rubber case that has a protective screen the flips down and the screen isn't even touched by the protection.
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c..._1949_20267172 http://www.speckproducts.com/t700-toughskin.html