The Palm Pre has been one of the most hyped smartphones since it was first seen at CES 2009 in January. The handset is an attempt by Palm to reinvent itself into a company with products that people want.

The official launch date for the Palm Pre is June 6 and at least one early review from Boy Genius Report (BGR) has found that the Pre is a good phone, but not the iPhone killer Palm and others hoped for. The handset will launch as a Sprint exclusive and supplies for launch day are expected to be very limited.

There are some serious caveats to the early review from BGR, one being that the phone isn’t fully functional meaning that call quality couldn’t be tested. The publication says that it believes the OS on the device is the final retail version, but that could be incorrect. However, the publication insists that the Pre hardware is the final retail version. That all boils down to take this early review with a grain of salt.

According to the review, the Pre has a fantastic screen and the reviewer writes, "The screen is where the Palm Pre shines. Selections take little to no effort and there’s that oh-so-magical water ripple effect when actually touching the display. It’s vibrant, rich and all around really clear. We’d rate it just behind the iPhone’s glass capacitive touch screen."

The keyboard is a big letdown according to the review with buttons that are tiny and nowhere near as good to type on as a Blackberry keyboard. The reviewer claims his thumb covers 3 or 4 keys. In the end, the keyboard is described as a "let down."

The phone is said to be sized well, but the feel was cheap compared to other high-end smartphones like the iPhone or Blackberry. BGR reports that the device feels like it is constructed of lower grade materials and feels very light.

The highlight of the Pre is the OS, which BGR says is off to a great start. Universal search works, but that was all that could be said about the search function. Battery life for the phone is a question mark. Without being able to place calls on the test phone battery life is mostly an arbitrary number. BGR reports that the device had a 30% charge when received and lasted about two hours.

In the end, the OS is great according to the review. However, the device has long road ahead figures BGR. The phone is made from second rate materials, with second rate hardware tied with a good OS on one of the least popular networks in America. All this at a price of $299, you can get an iPhone for less. Seems like a hard sell outside of customers stuck with Sprint and rabid fans.

The good news is that the Pre is known to be coming to Verizon, a much better network within the next 6 months or so according to a Verizon executive.