The multiple/random numbers or letters is being addressed (it is due to a flaw with the backlight on the keypad itself according to Motorola and will be turned off by default next patch.) An attempt was made to circumvent the issue right before the 4th Quarter lock-out by changing the registry to allow only 1 button press at a time before we knew exactly what was the root of the issue. Needless the say, it is no longer needed and should be removed next fusion patch (it is not the 2014 Winter Software Pilot Release, that is purely from the Applications Team), but there isn't an ETA yet on when it will go out but you should be able to once again hold down keys.
The Alerts/FFA isn't exactly the 9290 itself, it's actually Windows 7CE closing the alert application every time you log in through Web Apps (all alerts are actually controlled by a separate application dedicated to monitoring alerts). There is a way to force it to launch, but when you Toggle out of Web Apps into RFAPP's, the alerts application closes again and the 9290 goes silent. A couple of ideas have been tossed around in coming up with a rough fix for it, but it sounds like more and more that it will be handed off to the BTT team to spin up a separate application fix to replace it altogether.