I will be surprised if the actual phone design is retained in the Pre2... The phone does fit the name... Pre as in "pre"-production-like phone. They should get rid of the Pre name and go "Pro" for second gen.
I think they shot themselves in the foot with the phone design. I mean it's unique and guess it adds to the WOW factor when showing a concept phone with a new WebOS..
But the problem is once the concept wows everyone and it's a huge hit they love the design... then I think they realized they are actually commited to delivering that phone and design into production without really looking into if it's really the best design to go with for manufacturing and durability.
I mean... Slide design with a slight curved angle that tilts and doesnt snag to keyboard... molded one piece front cover/lens for the display... curved and rounded no less (I won't be surprised if over time there are thin areas on the front cover that may cause cracks). It is a super small form so jam all that hardware and make it work? Those guys at Foxconn must have looked at that form factor and said (in Chinese), "***?!"
I saw this article and think it probably true that it was a pain to build...
Palm Pixie Is Real, But May Never Come To Market
"We’ve also heard from multiple sources that Palm initially ordered 500,000 units of the Palm Pre from Foxconn for delivery by the end of May. Instead, they got 150,000 units in June. The reason? “the device’s complicated mechanical design caused low yield rates.” The result was a delayed launch and poor supply."
It's too late now... hard to have seen this coming. It was a risk going with a unique shape... time will tell but think will look back and see it was a hurtin point.
The rest of the phone rocks... OS wise. When I was considering a Pre, I said before... the OS rocks and I can deal with any glitches because they can be resolved with updates... I just dont want any hardware issues because I cant stand hardware issues. Seeing all the exchanges in my Poll... even if you increase the percentage of error but also taking into account so many that posted exchanges (and surprised that people even now talk about their 4th Pre months later)... definitely convinced me it's not within normal range and a major reason I had take a pass on this one. But hope they have it together for my next purchase.
Maybe for those early adopters when the next gen comes out next year, they will offer the upgrade at the $199 price instead of the unsubsidized price. If over time it does look like that there are build issues, that would be a great offer to 1st gen owners.