With the Palm Pre launching tomorrow, I had a whopping two minutes to play with one at work. Since I didn’t have time to analyze the software, I just took quick looks at the physical hardware to see what’s what.

Even in the two minutes worth of use, I was quickly able to realize how bad the keyboard is. Now I used to own a Samsung Blackjack (a phone with notoriously small keys), so I’m ok with a cramped keyboard. The problem here, though, isn’t down to the size of the keys or even how close they are. The real problem is two fold. First of all, the keys near the edges, especially the left side, were particularly hard to press. In the case of the ‘A’ key, I kept missing the key, outright, and hitting the raised edge immediately to the left of it. It was very frustrating. The second problem rests in the texture of the keys. They have a VERY rubbery feel to them and it was actually difficult to slide my fingers from one key to the next. A co-worker of mine, who came over as I was looking at the device, came to the same conclusion very quickly. He was amazed at how bad the keyboard was.

The rest of the hardware is also questionable. While the device is closed (keyboard is hidden behind the screen), it’s not that bad feeling. I’m actually quite amazed at how small the device is and how the screen, somehow, still appears to be so large. Great work on that front. Once you slide up the screen to reveal the keyboard, though, you’re greeted with plastic that feels rather thin and is somewhat sharp along the edges. I honestly got the impression that I was almost holding a cheap Chinese knockoff of another device. The perceived build quality is abysmal. Why weren’t those edges smoothed out and why does it have to feel so cheap in the hand?

I honestly can’t make any fair judgments about the software on the device, so my conclusion here is based PURELY on the few minutes I had with the hardware. Overall, the Palm Pre is going to suffer because of its hardware. It just feels cheap to hold and the very inefficient keyboard frustrated me in such a short time, so I can’t imagine having to deal with it on a daily basis.