Take a good look at this picture. No, that’s not sunlight or camera flash shining off that Pre – it’s a series of cracks originating from the center button. Like a rock chip on the old windshield of your grandpa’s pickup that inevitably advances to fill the windshield, some Pre owners have reported the same phenomenon.

This issue is not unique to Palm or the Pre, although some cracking issues were also discovered with Palm’s Treo Pro model (yours truly having owned one of the Pros with this issue). However, this could spell very bad news for both Palm and Sprint, particularly since the Pre is the all-eggs-in-one-basket smartphone for Palm and Sprint’s best launch ever. Thankfully Sprint is replacing units for those coming forth with the cracked screens. 

Is this a design flaw or an over-excited user mashing down on that button with a bit too much Hulk-like strength? Please let us know here in comments and in the forums if you are one of the unlucky ones with a cracked screen.

Source: precentral