BlackBerry Storm 9530

Every pre-Storm BB allowed you to type the name of a contact from the "phone" screen in order to find and immediately use the phone number. From the phone screen, the Storm requires you to press the Contacts icon and enter the relevant contact's name. Problem is (at least on my Storm) you can't get a landscape view from the phone screen, so you can't get to the qwerty keyboard. That leaves you trying to enter a name using Suretype--doesn't work unless the name is green or steel--something the dictionary recognizes. Could RIM possibly have designed the phone without being able to type in a name from the basic phone screen to get a phone number? Is my phone/software not functioning properly?