The fixed toolbars (as well as other performance advantages) are why I initially started using Sencha Touch instead of jQuery mobile. I'm sad to see where this 1.0 release is. I've been expecting working fixed toolbars for a long time. Sencha nailed this a long time ago, and it's a basic necessity.

The learning curve isn't THAT steep. Sencha Touch is well documented, and there are tons of example apps. There's a bit of a gap between the basic example apps and a full featured mobile app, but the documentation covers that all pretty well.

Regardless of the learning curve, it's worth the effort for javascript mobile development. Sencha Touch 1.0 was miles ahead of this release, and 2.0 is even further ahead.