Pogue's review at the NYT is now up. He basically really likes it with two caveats. The ringer isn't loud enough, and it drains battery like crazy.
Everyone griped about the iPhone’s permanently sealed battery. The Pre’s battery, however, is easy to swap.
That’s fortunate, because battery life is the Pre’s heartbreaker. Depending on how heavily I used the thing, the battery was dead either by late afternoon or by dinnertime. Yikes.
He attributes this to his house being nowhere near a Sprint tower. Regardless, his review seems to indicate that they really did make a very good phone. Not good enough that I'd consider dumping my iPhone or anything, but for my Sprint contract-locked sister who kinda wants an iPhone but doesn't care all that much, this could be exactly what the doctor ordered.