1. Covered. See 2.
2. Personal BIS acccounts do not reconcile mail and messages to the "computer". On a BIS account, you can do a wired sync to your PC Outlook for contacts, calendar, memos and tasks. BlackBerry does not have it own proprietary desktop PIM application, but relies on those tried and true apps like Outlook, and now Google Calendar/contacts. A BES (Blackberry Exchange Service) account will reconcile email from your Outlook accounts, as well as over the air sync of contacts, calendar, memos and tasks, and personal users can get that via hosted exchange account.
There is more detail that can be covered here, but the above should suffice for now.
3. Covered.
4. Covered.
5. Covered.
6. you skipped
7a. Many models, many choices. On Verizon, I would recommend the recently new 9630.
7b. Covered.
8. Sorta covered. You can password protect the entire device, or none at all. There is not a way to pw protect only specific contacts.
So, if VZW is your carrier -- for a hard keyboard, checkout the 9630, and for a touchscreen, see the 9550.
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See Horizon Wireless Online for BB repair, parts and accessories
3. Install free BlackBerry Protect today for backups of contacts and data.
Hi and welcome to the forums! 
A couple of places for you to visit: Blackberry 101 Tips & Tricks
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