Yeah I don't like T9 either. There should be a full qwerty. Go into a text or email or something and tap a text area so the keyboard pops up. Hold down where it says "Type to compose":
and you should get something like this:
OR hold down on the symbol key in the corner (or wherever it is on the T9) and you should get something like this:
Then click "Input Method" and you should be able to change it to something other than the T9 it is on.